Deutsche Bahn's December timetable adds faster Hamburg to Munich trains, but keeps fares stable

Faster trains from the north

Deutsche Bahn's new timetable takes effect on 13 December 2026, and tickets for it go on sale from Wednesday, 14 October. ICE-Sprinters will run three times daily in each direction between Hamburg and Munich, stopping only in Hannover and Nürnberg, which cuts the journey by 20 minutes to 5 hours and 20 minutes. The Hamburg to Frankfurt am Main route will run once daily on to Saarbrücken via Mannheim and Kaiserslautern, which the company says makes the Palatinate and Saarland about 30 minutes faster to reach. On Fridays and Sundays an extra ICE will leave Hamburg for Düsseldorf and Cologne, and a new night ICE to Stuttgart is starting because of high demand. Berlin to Stuttgart will run three times daily in each direction with a journey time of 4 hours and 45 minutes, up from one service a day.

What gets slower or disappears

Not every change is faster. The evening ICE from Hamburg to Frankfurt and Wiesbaden will skip Lüneburg and Uelzen, which shortens the trip by 50 minutes but removes those stops. Hamburg to Cologne loses a daily sprinter in both directions because of construction at the Hamburg Elbbrücken. Renovation of the Hannover to Berlin line sends long-distance trains via Braunschweig and Magdeburg until December 2027, lengthening trips by up to 80 minutes. According to NDR, service between Hannover, Osnabrück, Bad Bentheim and Amsterdam falls from seven ICE a day to two. Tagesspiegel reports that works on the Frankfurt to Erfurt line will cut all Berlin to Frankfurt sprinters in early February to mid-May and again from mid-August. Hamburg to Berlin trips will take 35 to 45 minutes longer from 16 October 2027 because of works at Berlin-Spandau station.

Prices and passes

Deutsche Bahn is not announcing the usual autumn fare increase. CEO Evelyn Palla said in spring that long-distance ticket prices would stay unchanged until May 2027. Long-distance board member Michael Peterson made the case for rail as an alternative to driving and flying:

In times of expensive fuel, the railway remains a good and affordable alternative to car and plane.

From 21 October, monthly and student monthly passes for long-distance commuters will be 25% cheaper, according to the company. Spiegel notes that the price of advance fares depends on how full a train is on a given day, with Fridays, Sundays and the Christmas period usually the most expensive.

International connections

Deutsche Bahn plans more than 320 international trips a day, 20 more than before and 20% above the 2019 level, according to tagesschau. Destinations include France, Italy and Austria. From March, seven Eurocity-Express train pairs will run between Hamburg, Schleswig and Copenhagen, and two daily direct services between Copenhagen and Prague will pass through Berlin and Hamburg. From next year, four ICE a day will run directly from Hamburg to Amsterdam, three starting at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and one stopping at Bergedorf and Hamburg-Harburg. FAZ reports that more than 200 cities in 14 countries will be reachable directly from Germany.