DB to reopen Berlin-Hamburg route, but journeys will take longer

Deutsche Bahn trains between Berlin and Hamburg will resume full service on June 14, but journeys will take longer. Here’s what passengers need to know:

Deutsche Bahn to reopen Berlin-Hamburg route

Deutsche Bahn trains will resume full service on the Berlin-Hamburg route on June 14, following a year-long construction project. 

Services on the line have been disrupted since August 1, 2025, and were due to begin normal operations on April 30, 2026. However, persistent frost in January meant that underground cables couldn’t be laid, and construction fell behind schedule.

In February, Deutsche Bahn already announced that construction delays meant there would be no inaugural ceremony when the line eventually reopened.

Berlin-Hamburg journeys will take nearly two hours

Despite renovations, train journeys between Berlin and Hamburg will take slightly longer than before.

In the early 2000s, the Berlin-Hamburg route was updated from a high-speed line with a 160 kilometres per hour (km/h) speed limit to a single-speed 230 km/h line. 

This reduced the journey time to 90 minutes, but the track’s deterioration has since added several minutes, which even recent renovations haven’t been able to cut back. Prior to the recent construction project, an ICE journey between the two German cities took one hour and 45 minutes. 

Now, according to Tagesspiegel, journeys will take between five and 10 minutes longer. Deutsche Bahn confirmed to the newspaper that an ICE journey between the two cities will now take close to two hours.