Rail overhaul reshapes Germany's busiest corridors: Berlin-Hamburg reopens, new disruption hits Berlin city line
After an 11-month closure and a six-week delay, Germany's busiest rail corridor between Berlin and Hamburg resumed service on Sunday. The same day, a six-month construction shutdown began on Berlin's Stadtbahn, while the Hamburg-Hannover connection tightened replacement services.
Germany's railway network entered a new phase of its sweeping infrastructure programme on 14 June, delivering a long-awaited reopening and simultaneously hitting travellers with fresh closures on two other key arteries.
Hamburg-Berlin reopens after delay
The fully renovated 278-kilometre line between Berlin and Hamburg carried its first freight trains on Saturday evening and its first passenger services on Sunday morning. The reopening ends an 11-month shutdown that began on 1 August 2025. Originally scheduled for completion at the end of April, the project was delayed by six weeks because an unusually harsh winter froze the ground and exhausted the time buffer built into the schedule. Philipp Nagl, CEO of DB infrastructure subsidiary InfraGo, thanked affected passengers for their patience and called the work the largest single measure in the company's corridor renovation programme, which runs until 2036.
Long-distance trains will run at reduced speeds on some sections until the end of June while technical acceptance tests continue, and the scheduled ICE travel time has been lengthened by two minutes to 107 minutes to account for higher traffic volumes. The route is also part of the new direct connection from Prague via Berlin and Hamburg to Copenhagen, which launched in early May.
Berlin Stadtbahn: six months without long-distance trains
Shortly after the Hamburg-Berlin line returned, another long-term closure began. Construction on the roughly 12-kilometre elevated Stadtbahn corridor through central Berlin started on Sunday and will last until 12 December. No regional or long-distance trains will operate between Berlin-Charlottenburg and Ostbahnhof during that period; they will be diverted or cancelled. S-Bahn services are largely unaffected, but three weekend closures are planned: 26–29 June, 24–27 July, and 31 July–3 August. Deutsche Bahn will concentrate on bridge, track, and point works at Hauptbahnhof, Zoologischer Garten, and Ostbahnhof.
Hamburg-Hannover quality works extended
The heavily used Hamburg-Hannover line, one of Germany's most congested rail corridors, tightened its restrictions the same day. As part of a quality offensive that started in early May, the section between Lüneburg and Hannover was fully closed from 14 June until 10 July. Regional lines RE3 and RB31 between Uelzen and Lüneburg were suspended, replaced by hourly buses. The RE2 and RE3 connections between Lüneburg, Uelzen, Celle, and Hannover were also converted to bus operation, while a third S-Bahn line (S61) reinforces the section between Celle and Hannover. Long-distance journeys between Hannover and Hamburg take roughly 30 minutes longer due to diversions. A full months-long general renovation of the entire corridor is planned for 2029.
- Hamburg-Berlin line closes for full renovation.
- Partial reopening of Hamburg-Berlin between Hagenow and Berlin.
- Hamburg-Berlin fully reopens. Berlin Stadtbahn closure begins. Hamburg-Hannover extends closure to Lüneburg-Uelzen.
- Hamburg-Hannover quality works scheduled to finish.
- Berlin Stadtbahn construction scheduled to end.
Political pushback on Deutsche Bahn
The six-week overrun on the Berlin-Hamburg project drew criticism from the governing coalition, which called for better planning and more transparent communication.
For the coming corridor renovations, we need reliable schedules and transparent communication.
Lower Saxony's state public transport company LNVG also voiced frustration about short-notice changes during the Hamburg-Hannover works, which were partly triggered by the delay on the Hamburg-Berlin line. Managing director Carmen Schwabl said the adjustments had posed enormous challenges for everyone involved and urged the railway to use the closure windows efficiently and avoid further large-scale works before 2029.
Programme of corridor renovations
Deutsche Bahn is tackling decades of underinvestment with a plan to modernise more than 4,000 kilometres of heavily loaded track across 40 corridors by 2040. The just-completed Berlin-Hamburg project delivered 165 kilometres of new track, 249 new points, six new signal boxes, and modernised 28 stations, with a crew of about 1,000 workers. The budget was set at 2.2 billion euros, but a cost overrun is likely once final accounting is done. Next in the pipeline are two more corridor renovations due to finish in about a month, according to the company.
