After a number of cancellations this year – such as the ÖBB Nightjet to Paris and the cultural train from Berlin to Poland – major train and rail projects have fortunately been announced for the future. The new planned Berlin-Paris night route with European Sleeper was only recently announced. In addition, from 2040, trains with halved travel times will bring the major European cities together even faster. Last but not least, the exciting plans for direct connections between Germany and the United Kingdom are also attracting attention. All of this already sounds promising – but on December 14, another highlight was added especially for Berlin: the new and convenient Airport Express (FEX) was also introduced with the timetable change in mid-December. Its special feature: it takes you from Berlin Central Station to BER Airport every 15 minutes in just 23 minutes.
After more than three decades, the new Dresden train is now in operation. In future, it will run twice as frequently as before and will now reach Berlin Central Station in just over 20 minutes instead of 39 minutes. This means that BER Airport is now fully accessible via a direct rail link for the first time – and Berlin has the fastest connection between BER Airport and Berlin Central Station. The train stops at the Südkreuz and Potsdamer Platz stations and runs along the new, approximately 16-kilometer-long southern route instead of the previous route via Ostkreuz and Gesundbrunnen. This is the biggest rail service opening in the region for years.