From October, trains traveling from the Netherlands to Berlin will be rerouted via Hamburg because of long-term construction work between Hannover and Berlin. The new route will add an hour to the journey, bringing the total travel time to approximately seven hours.
Daily service on the route will be reduced from five to four departures. Three daily ICE services will continue to operate to Hannover, which will become their terminus.
Direct connections to Hamburg and Bremen
Passengers traveling to Hamburg currently need to transfer trains in Osnabrück. Under the new schedule, the ICE will run directly from Amsterdam Centraal and make designated stops at Hamburg-Harburg and Hamburg-Bergedorf before continuing east toward Berlin.
From mid-December, the route will also include a stop in Bremen. The diversion is expected to remain in place until at least the end of next year.
NS International director Heike Luiten said direct service to Hamburg and Bremen has been on the operator’s wish list for some time. A decision on whether trains will return to the original route will depend partly on passenger demand for the two northern German cities.
Travelers on the service will ride on Germany’s newest-generation ICE trains. The trains replaced older Intercity Berlin carriages to offer modern seating and faster baseline track speeds.
