Sections of the Berlin-Hamburg railway closed until December

Construction began on Friday on the rail connection between Berlin and Hamburg - one of the busiest in the country. 

Around 30,000 passengers travel by rail between the two cities each day. 

But outdated infrastructure on this route urgently needs to be renovated, even ahead of the general renovations which are planned to begin in the near future.

Here’s what passengers need to know.

How will train travel be affected?

This phase of construction work is scheduled from Friday (August 16th) until the timetable change on December 14th.

During these four months, there will be restrictions in long-distance (ICE) and regional (RE) traffic between Hamburg and Berlin.

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"More than 74 kilometres of tracks and 100 points between Wittenberge and Ludwigslust as well as between Hamburg and Büchen and around Hagenow Land will be renewed," Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced.

Long-distance trains will be diverted west via Stendal, Salzwedel, Uelzen and Lüneburg, which will extend travel times by 45 minutes. 

Because the detour is only passable on one track in some places, long-distance trains between Hamburg and Berlin will be reduced to one per hour – instead of the previous two. .

A replacement bus service will carry commuters between Hamburg and Wittenberge, and also run through Ludwigslust. 

The connection changes are already updated in the online timetables and can be checked on DB’s website or in the DB app.

Additionally, construction will start between Hamburg and Schwerin from Friday until September 29th. All long-distance ICE trains will be stopped here during the construction period. Instead replacement buses will connect the cities, including an intercity bus via Lübeck running once per day.

National railways are in need of large-scale repairs

This construction comes during an ongoing renovation of the so-called Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim, and ahead of a planned general renovation project on the same route between Berlin and Hamburg.

The general renovation here is scheduled from August 2025 to April 2026. During those nine months virtually all working parts are to be renewed, including tracks, switches, overhead lines, control and safety technology. DB suggests the line can then remain free of construction for years to come.

But some immediate repairs could not wait until then, according to DB.

"The construction work in 2024 is necessary so that trains can continue to run at full speed with fewer disruptions…" said DB in a presentation.

DB trains across Germany have become increasingly unreliable in recent years, in no small part due to ageing infrastructure. 

In the first half of 2024, almost one in three long-distance trains was late. 

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The federal government plans to improve Germany’s national rail network with billions of euros in funding for infrastructure renovations – to be installed section by section over the course of the coming years.

For passengers, this initially means additional burdens due to the construction-related closures. It will probably be a few years before things get noticeably better.

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With reporting by DPA