Three main changes are coming with Deutsche Bahn’s new timetable on December 15, 2024. Here is a guide to the most significant changes.

Long-distance train tickets will get more expensive

When Deutsche Bahn launches its new timetable on December 15, the price of certain tickets will increase.

The cost of a Flexpreis ticket will rise by an average of 5,9 percent and the cost of “Zeitkarten”, weekly or monthly tickets for public transport across a city or region, will rise by an average of 5,9 percent.

The cost of a BahnCard 100 subscription will rise by an average of 6,6 percent, but the cost of a BahnCard 50 and BahnCard 25 will remain the same.

The cost of Deutsche Bahn’s Sparpreis (21,99 euros) and Supersparpreis (17,99 euros) tickets for long-distance trains will also remain the same. The rail operator said that eight out of 10 Deutsche Bahn customers use the Sparpreis and Supersparpreis discounter tickets, which have to be booked well in advance of travel.

Additionally, from January 1, 2025, the price of a monthly Deutschlandticket subscription, which allows holders unlimited access to public transport and regional trains across Germany, will increase from 49 euros to 58 euros.

More ICE trains between German cities

With the new timetable, Deutsche Bahn will extend its high-speed, intercity routes. "We are expanding our timetable in Germany with a sense of proportion - where there is a corresponding demand from our passengers," Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Michael Peterson explained.

Six trains will be added to the route between Berlin and Frankfurt, which will run back and forth 22 times daily. The journey time will also be reduced by 20 minutes, bringing it down to four hours. 

Connections between Hamburg and Cologne will be 25 minutes shorter, and the Munich-Berlin route will run up to 45 minutes faster.

A second direct train between Berlin and Bremen will be added to the timetable. Meanwhile, the Eurocity train which runs along the Hamburg-Bremen-Osnabrück-Cologne line will become a high-speed ICE train. From Cologne, the route will be extended to Basel via Frankfurt Airport.

While these routes will expand and should be made more efficient, others will be cut. There will be fewer ICE connections between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart and fewer connections between Karlsruhe and Kassel.

International routes will expand

Until now, passengers travelling between Berlin and Paris have had to change trains two or three times during the journey. From December 16, a new direct and daily train will run between the capitals.

Run jointly by Deutsche Bahn and SNCF, the train will leave Berlin Hauptbahnhof every day at 11.54am, travelling via Frankfurt, Karlsruhe and Strasbourg and terminating in Paris Gare de L’Est at around 8pm. On their return, Berliners can leave Paris at 9.55am and be home shortly after 6pm.

Alongside connecting the two capitals, the new route will improve existing connections between Germany and France, including the Frankfurt-Marseille and Frankfurt-Bordeaux trains.

A third, daily train will be added to the four-hour route between the Berlin-Krakow-Przemysl. Two of these trains will continue to Przemysl.

As part of its 2025 timetable, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) will expand EuroCity services between Munich and Zurich via Memmingen, Bregenz, St. Gallen and Winterthur. Two extra services will run in both directions from December 15, one in the early morning and one late at night. 

Finally, a new daily, direct service will also be added to the Amsterdam-Munich route, via Stuttgart and Ulm. 

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