Deutsche Bahn is reopening the Hamburg–Berlin rail line on Sunday as part of a minor timetable change. Until the end of the month, trains will still be running at reduced speeds on certain sections, the company announced on Saturday. The updated times will be viewable from Sunday onwards. The reopening also brings improvements for a number of other connections, including services to Sylt and between Prague and Copenhagen.
Between Hamburg and Berlin, 52 direct long-distance connections will be offered daily going forward. Non-stop, trains are scheduled to complete the journey in under two hours. However, due to "final acceptance runs that lead to adjusted speeds for long-distance trains on certain sections," journey times will initially be extended by five to ten minutes.
Since this delay will only appear in the travel information system from the timetable change onwards, Deutsche Bahn is advising passengers with existing bookings to check their connections again before departure.
The route between the capital and the Hanseatic city had been closed since August 2025 for a comprehensive overhaul. The work was originally due to be completed by the end of April, but was delayed primarily due to weather-related problems during the winter months.
ICE direct services with intermediate stops will once again call at Büchen, Ludwigslust, and Wittenberge. The previous detour via Stendal, Salzwedel, and Uelzen will no longer be necessary. With the line back in service, the new Railjet connection between Copenhagen and Prague will also run three times per day in each direction. Deutsche Bahn notes that this also cuts the journey from Hamburg to Dresden to around three and a half hours.
The timetable change also brings back direct services to and from Budapest, Bratislava, Prague, and Vienna, as well as a direct connection from Berlin to Sylt. Further changes are set to take effect from July. From 11 July, a direct service from Cologne via Düsseldorf, the Ruhr area, Münster, and Bremen to Sylt will resume, along with a connection from Frankfurt via Gießen to Westerland on the North Sea island.
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