'Riedbahn': How a key German rail route will re-open after five-month closure

The Riedbahn, a section of railway between Frankfurt and Mannheim, has been completely closed due to construction work since July 15th this year.

Now, five months and €1.3 billion in constructions costs later, the work is complete and trains are scheduled to run again from Sunday.

Linking a couple of west Germany's biggest cities, and also connecting larger routes that are important for German and European freight traffic, the Riedbahn is among Germany's busiest track segments.

According to Deutsche Bahn (DB), about 360 trains pass over the section each day - that's a train every four minutes on average.

Delays on the Riedbahn, which had become quite common due to the section's high traffic and out-dated infrastructure, often had extensive impacts on the nationwide rail network.

The 70-kilometre-long line is named after Hessian Ried, an agricultural region in the Upper Rhine Plain, that it runs through.

When will traffic on the Riedbahn resume?

As planned, trains traffic is scheduled to begin again from December 15th. According to DB, a freight train will be the first to pass along the re-opened tracks on Sunday night.

Long-distance traffic is to run without restrictions from then onwards, but there will still be some timetable changes in freight and regional traffic.

The regional train lines RB 62 between Worms and Biblis and RB 63 between Worms and Bensheim will not resume operation until December 24th.

Until then, a replacement bus service will continue to serve those lines.

The S-Bahn lines S8 between Biblis and Mannheim and S9 between Groß-Rohrheim and Mannheim are not scheduled to resume until January 13th.

Freight train traffic is planned to run only at night initially, and ramp up until December 23rd.

DB says that from January 13th all trains are planned to run again on the regular timetable.

Will punctuality be improved?

DB suggests that the now completed infrastructure upgrade here will reduce disruptions "by up to 80 percent" for trains on this route.

This year DB's long-distance trains were late or cancelled more often than they had been in many years.

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The company suggests that many delays are due to the poor condition of the rail network, as well as recent construction work.

Because so many routes connect through or near to the Riedbahn, significant disruptions here were known to cause knock-on delays as far away as Stuttgart or even Hamburg.

So officials suggest that a smoother running Riedbahn will reduce the number of delays experienced by rail passengers across the country.

That said, don't expect DB to miraculously have perfect reliability overnight. This was the first of 41 busy corridors that are planned to be renovated in the coming years.

So further construction delays are certain, but the hope is that when all of the upgrades are finished, the national rail network will be able to run again with that so-called German efficiency it was once known for.

What work was done?

According to a report by the construction companies involved, they have renewed a total of 111 kilometres of tracks, 152 points, 619 signals, 15 kilometres of noise barriers, 130 kilometres of overhead lines, 383 catenary masts and eight platforms.

Several bridges and 20 stations along the line were also renovated. 

And the line has been equipped for the electronic train control system ETCS, which is to be put into operation gradually in the coming years.

What's next for Germany's railway projects?

Starting next year, the long-distance line between Hamburg and Berlin is to be modernised. At almost 280 kilometres, the route is much longer and more complex than the Riedbahn.

For nine months, from August 2025 to April 2026, the connection will be closed for construction. Long-distance traffic will be diverted via Stendal and Uelzen, and travel times between Hamburg and Berlin will be extended by at least 45 minutes. Regional transport will be served by replacement buses.

READ ALSO: Deutsche Bahn to increase ticket prices from December

With reporting by DPA.