It's a tradition for German railways DB. The programme for the coming year - in this case 2022 - comes into force in December of the previous year. This 12 December sees the start of the official timetable for the German railways. And it translates into the commissioning of over 50,000 additional places per day compared with 2021. This will be made possible by more connections and the use of new train models offering more seats, such as the XXL-ICE.
The increase in capacity corresponds in fact to the integration of new trains on the mainline network. Over the last two years, the German railway company has put 46 ICE 4 and 29 Intercity 2 trains into service. double-decker trains. By the end of the year, the high-speed train network will include 340 ICE trainsets.
Main new features in 2022
– More ICE XXL trains Some twenty of these 13-car trains are being introduced with the timetable change. 374 metres long, they offer a transport capacity of 918 peopleor five times more than a medium-haul aircraft. They also have a network of wifi on board.
– Expanding the Sprinter ICE range. In fact, DB is integrating these high-speed trains on eight of the ten busiest air routes within Germany. Three times a day, an ICE Sprinter runs between Cologne and Berlin non-stop in just under four hours. This represents a time saving of 30 minutes compared with current trains. On the Düsseldorf/Cologne/Munich route, the Sprinter will also cut journey times by half an hour. Passengers can also look forward to a journey time of 3.5 hours on the Munich-Zurich route, compared with more than four hours last summer.
– DB launches a new ICE line which will link Dortmund or Münster to Frankfurt every two hours. Finally, on the Nightjets front, DB is operating two new routes. The first will connect Vienna to Paris via Munich; the second will link Zurich to Amsterdam via Basel and Cologne.
- Among DB's major projects, a new stage has been reached in the construction of a new high-speed line linking Frankfurt to Mannheim via Darmstadt. On 30 November, DB submitted its land use and route plan to the authorities. The new route is due to open to the public in its entirety in 2030. It should further reduce journey times on the Paris-Frankfurt route, which currently passes through Mannheim..
Changes to train ticket purchasing
DB has improved the possibility of reserving tickets on the train. LMainline passengers can reserve their tickets on the train up to 10 minutes after departure.You can also purchase tickets digitally on the DB Navigator application or on bahn.de. Buying a ticket on the train at short notice has thus become considerably simpler. Passengers no longer have to go to the train staff and save the 17 euro on-board supplement.
In addition, the digital booking is helping to reduce contact on trains, particularly last-minute ticket purchases on the train. As a result, less than 1% of passengers still buy their ticket on board trains.
Travellers now have an attractive alternative with purchases via the online application, ticket sales by train staff will be abolished on 1 January 2022.
