Months of construction work: the Berlin-Hamburg railway line will be restricted as early as 2024

In 2025, the railway line between Berlin and Hamburg is to be completely renovated. But already in the coming year there will be extensive construction work – and obstacles in rail traffic for months.

On the railway line between Berlin and Hamburg, construction work will lead to detours and longer travel times for months in the coming year. From August 16 to December 14, 2024, 100 points and 74 kilometers of tracks are to be renewed, as Deutsche Bahn announced on Friday.

Long-distance traffic must therefore be diverted, so longer travel times are to be expected. There will also be restrictions in regional and freight transport.

The construction work is not part of the general renovation concept, with which numerous routes are to be fundamentally modernized in the coming years and closed for around six months at a time. The Hamburg – Berlin route is to be completely renovated in 2025 – it is therefore in that year closed again from June 6th to December 13th.

According to Deutsche Bahn, the upcoming work cannot be postponed until 2025: “There are clear deadlines for the maintenance of the infrastructure, so the construction work must take place in the coming year,” it said.

With 230 ICE, regional and freight trains and up to 30,000 passengers per day, the route between the capital and Hamburg is one of the most important direct city connections in Germany. During extensive construction work on the route in autumn and winter 2021, long-distance traffic was diverted via Stendal and Uelzen, which resulted in 30 minutes more travel time.

Deutsche Bahn has not yet given any exact figures for the delays in the coming year. The timetables are currently being drawn up, it said.

Broadcast: Antenne Brandenburg, June 9th, 2023, 6:00 p.m