Deutsche Bahn has released its new timetable for 2024. The national rail service will be running faster and more frequent connections between large German cities and has added more night trains to its schedule. The new timetable will already apply from December 10, 2023.

More seats on regular trains between Berlin and NRW

“With the 2024 timetable, we are offering our passengers more new connections than we have had in 20 years,” Deutsche Bahn board member Michael Peterson said upon the announcement of the train company’s new timetable for 2024.

The main new features include running intercity high-speed trains more regularly. This concerns two lines in particular, the first between Berlin and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The train will connect Berlin and Cologne every 30 minutes, passing through Hanover and Wuppertal on its way.

Deutsche Bahn has also claimed that there will be more available seats on the Berlin - Cologne train, a piece of news that will be much celebrated by those unwilling to fork out the extra euros that Deutsche Bahn demands to make sure you get a seat, rather than having to stand on a packed train.

The ICE line between Berlin and Munich is the second high-speed line which will run more regularly on the new timetable. The line to and from the capital of Bavaria will run every 30 minutes from December 2023 onwards. In addition, the company will run two new sprinter lines, connecting Berlin, Nuremberg and Munich with no other stops, cutting the journey down to three hours and 45 minutes compared to the previous four hours.

More routes connecting the eastern and southern regions

Regional trains between Leipzig, Jena and Nuremberg will also increase come 2024, with five connections running each day.

People living in Magdeburg in Saxony-Anhalt will also be better connected in the new year, with more lines running to Hamburg via Stendal. The route between Leipzig and Rostock via Magdeburg and services between Magdeburg and Berlin will be more regular.

Arrival of the Austrian Nightjet

Private beds for everyone and a shower for those willing to pay a little more - the Austrian Nightjet between Berlin and Paris and Berlin and Brussels will hit the tracks every day starting October 2024. Train enthusiast and blogger The Man in Seat 61 was lucky enough to get a sneak peek of what the train's new private sleeping berths will look like!

The route is run by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and, considering the demand for travelling this way has seen a resurgence in the past few years, is hopefully the beginning of a lot more comfortable night trains running through Germany. Deutsche Bahn is also in the midst of making plans with France's SNCF to run a night train of their own between Paris and Berlin.

Thumb image credit: Tobias Arhelger / Shutterstock.com