This year has already seen a number of major announcements for the public transport network – including the new night train connection to Paris with European Sleeper from 2026 and the new direct connections between Germany and the UK planned for 2030. But yesterday, December 14, 2025, also marked the timetable change of the year. With it, several exciting changes came into force that are intended to make the rail network faster and more convenient. One of the most important innovations is the new Airport Express (FEX): it now connects Berlin Central Station with BER Airport in just 23 minutes – instead of the previous 39 minutes. The modernized Dresden railroad, with its new 16-kilometre-long line, is the largest new line in the region for many years. And that’s not all: from now on, there will be further changes that will further improve rail travel.
Also since yesterday, the Anhalter Bahn between Berlin and Halle has been fully reopened after around three months of construction. This will shorten travel times on several important long-distance routes, including between Berlin and Halle, Leipzig, Erfurt and onwards to Munich. Halle (Saale) Central Station can now be reached again from Berlin Central Station in just 1 hour and 7 minutes. In addition to these major changes, there are other innovations. Here is an overview of some of the most important ones:
Long-distance services
- There will be more fast ICE connections between Berlin and Munich in future
- There will be a continuous half-hourly service between Berlin, Halle and Erfurt with no further intermediate stops
- The journey time between Berlin Hbf and Leipzig Hbf will once again be 1 hour and 15 minutes as planned
- A new ICE Sprinter will be introduced between Berlin and Stuttgart, stopping only in Nuremberg. This will reduce the journey time to under five hours – around an hour faster than the previous direct connections
- The three daily ICE Sprinter connections Berlin-Cologne-Bonn will be discontinued from the beginning of February due to several construction sites
International traffic
- There will be an additional daily direct connection between Berlin and Warsaw
- New overnight connections will be created between Berlin-Warsaw-Chełm and Berlin-Krakow-Przemyśl
- The Berlin-Paris direct train has a new route: since yesterday, trains have been stopping in Halle, Erfurt, Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and Mannheim, among other places, making them around 15 to 20 minutes faster between the two capitals
Regional traffic
- The Airport Express (FEX) no longer runs via Gesundbrunnen and Ostkreuz, but from Berlin Central Station via Südkreuz directly to BER Airport
- The eastern part of Berlin will be better connected to the airport: The RB24 from Eberswalde will be extended to BER Airport
- The RE20 line will be newly introduced on the route Berlin Hbf – BER Airport – Lübbenau (- Cottbus)
- A new line will also be introduced for journeys to the Baltic Sea: the RE30