Deutsche Bahn releases new timetable and tickets for Christmas season
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Deutsche Bahn has released its new timetable and launched ticket sales for the 2025 Christmas season. Here’s what passengers need to know about the new services and how to get the best value tickets:
Deutsche Bahn to introduce new timetable in mid-December
The Deutsche Bahn timetable changes every year in mid-December. In 2025, the national rail service will introduce more frequent and faster connections between large German cities.
There will be 14 new ICE-Sprinter-Netz services connecting German cities with high-speed trains. The sprinter connecting Berlin and Stuttgart via Nuremberg will be an hour faster than before, with a travel time of four hours and 45 minutes. The Hamburg to Frankfurt sprinter will run four times per day and take just three hours and 30 minutes.
ICE services running between cities every 30 minutes will now connect 21 cities, including Hamburg-Hannover-Kassel and Berlin-Halle-Erfurt. There will be new direct connections every two hours between Kiel and Stuttgart, and Stralsund and Frankfurt.
Deutsche Bahn will also extend international connections between Germany and Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Poland and Switzerland. A new train model, the ICE L, will launch on the line between Berlin and Cologne, Berlin and Westerland, and Cologne and Oberstdorf.
Between October 17 and 21 there will be a 12 percent discount on all Sparpreis tickets.
Passengers should book early to get cheap Christmas tickets
Having published the new timetable, Deutsche Bahn has also launched ticket sales for the Christmas season 2025. Speaking to Tagesschau, Julia Gerhards of the consumer advice centre in Rheinland-Palatinate encouraged prospective passengers to book tickets early.
“Particularly with cheap tickets, Super Sparpreis and Sparpreis tickets for example, there is a quota,” Gerhards explained. “If certain trains or certain routes are at capacity, then you will no longer get the best offer.”
Gerhards also encouraged passengers to use train price comparison websites such as Trainline or Omio, which compare prices with FlixTrain or FlixBus services. Alternatively, travellers can check the websites of train services from other neighbouring countries, particularly Austria’s ÖBB.
“If you want to travel to Munich, it can also be worth checking the ÖBB website to see how much it costs for a ticket to Innsbruck.” The ÖBB sells Sparpreis tickets, and it can be cheaper to buy a ticket to Innsbruck than Munich. “Nobody will prevent you from getting off at Munich even though you have a ticket to Innsbruck,” Gerhards explained.