Hamburg – Berlin Main Line Reopens

Photo Credit: DB AG/Volker Emersleben

GERMANY –– DB completes the largest single project in its major renewals programme.

GERMAN infrastructure manager DB InfraGO has completed the renovation of the 278km Hamburg – Berlin main line, the country’s busiest inter-city corridor, and the largest single project under the major renewals programme to upgrade the 40 busiest corridors in Germany up to 2036.

The line, which carries 470 trains every day, closed on August 1 2025 and was originally due to reopen on May 1. The project involved more than 1000 DB and third-party construction company employees and included installing:

• 165km of new track
• 249 switches
• seven new crossovers
• renewal of nearly 5km of noise barriers in the Wohltorf/Aumühle area
• construction of six new and modernisation of 19 signal boxes, and
• improvements to 28 stations.

DB says the line is ready for future upgrade to ETCS and FRMCS, and will support the installation of additional mobile phone antennas to improve reception along the route. Work is continuing at some stations on the line and some speed restrictions remain in place as acceptance tests continue, although these are only expected to last a few more days.

DB reports that long-distance and some regional trains and freight services, which were diverted during the closure, have run reliably on diversionary routes over the “past few months.” It says 170 buses introduced to replace regional rail services have covered approximately 25 million km during the closure.

DB says it is on course to complete the refurbishment of the Hagen – Wuppertal – Cologne, and Nuremberg – Regensburg lines within the next month, taking the length of lines completed under its refurbishment programme to 580km. Work is set to begin imminently on the Obertraubling – Passau line, while the project to update the Troisdorf – Wiesbaden line will also commence next month.