Deutsche Bahn wants to significantly improve its long-distance services within the next three years: As early as 2026, 20 major German cities will be served by an ICE every half hour, Deutsche Bahn chief Richard Lutz. They are about double today. Lutz promised “faster connections for even more people in a denser cycle.”
To achieve this, the railway fleet will also be significantly expanded, Lutz said. One is currently negotiating with manufacturers to purchase new trains. The railroad is planning “no less than one of the largest procurement packages” in its history, Lutz said, without giving details.
According to Lutz, the following cities should be reconnected to the ICE every half hour by 2026: Augsburg, Erfurt, Göttingen, Halle (Saale), Hanover, Kassel, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Ulm. So far these are: Berlin, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt am Main, Hagen, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Nuremberg, Wuppertal and Würzburg.
Deutsche Bahn expects a new record number of over 150 million long-distance passengers this year. It has set itself the goal of doubling the number of passengers in long-distance passenger transport in the coming years and of introducing the so-called Germany cycle. This means that there would be a nationwide uniform timetable, according to which trains would run. Of course, it will likely be decades before this is fully implemented; Part of this concept is a half-hourly ICE connection on the most important routes.
The main problem, however, is the bad state of the railway network, which allows only a limited number of journeys and whose numerous construction sites have recently brought train punctuality down to extremely low values. The railway is therefore planning a large investment program by 2030, the most important sections will be completely renewed. The financing was only partially clarified. The federal government expects costs totaling 45 billion euros by 2027 alone.
