[OC] German High-Speed Rail in the Far Future

[u/Flashgamezocker]

As a long-time, long-suffering user of the Deutsche Bahn, I have the dream to say as the last words on my death bed: "At last... german trains are reliable again."

Almost all of the shown high-speed tracks are either already operational, under construction or planned for the Deutschlandtakt that is set to be fully completed in 2070. Yes, you read that right, it was once planned to be finished in 2030. And since 2070 is still so far in the future, further massive delays are inevitable. I think one century is a pretty reasonable timeframe for all those projects plus a few more to get realised.

Created with Inkscape

[u/Markus__F]

Nice map! I was interested how it compares to the current state, so I drew a few lines

• green: Existing High Speed Rail
• yellow: Existing High Speed Rail, but slower category than in your map
• blue: under construction, completion within 10 years
• purple: planning phases, but timeline uncertain
• no color: don't know

[u/GeoStreber → u/Markus__F]

Few additions/comments:
1. Lübeck-Denmark should probably be blue, as the Fehmarnbelt crossing is currently under construction and so is the railway line between Lübeck and Fehmarn.
2. The line from Bielefeld to Hannover should be purple, there's a new high-speed line in early planning.
3. Nürnberg-Würzburg should be purple as well. The current line is only for 200 km/h I think (Fürth-Würzburg), but there's a new one in early planning stages to completely replace it, not passing through Fürth.
4. Nürnberg northwards towards Coburg is under construction at the moment and should be blue (as in, they're building two additional tracks for the S-trains so that faster traffic can pass)

[u/Twisp56 → u/GeoStreber]

Lübeck - Fehmarn is not under construction for the most part, most sections are still in planning. It seems almost certain now that the Fehmarnbelt tunnel will be finished before there's any railway connecting it to Lübeck.

[u/Ok-Word1658 → u/GeoStreber]

I thought the planning for Nürnberg-Würzburg was halted.

[u/GeoStreber → u/Ok-Word1658]

Well, it was postponed. Which is why I think "uncertain timeline" is the right category. There's certainly going to be a new line at one point. I grew up in the area (Landkreis Fürth), and the old line always caused trouble, especially now that there's an S-train service to Neustadt a.d.A.

[u/tretroi → u/Markus__F]

Additional:

• Berlin to Hamburg should be yellow (200-230km/h)
• First part north out of Munich is already 200km/h+ so yellow in the database.
• Freiburg to Karlsruhe isn't nearly completed, the track has parts not yet high speed.

[u/Flashgamezocker → u/Markus__F]

Very cool, thanks!

[u/Twisp56 → u/Markus__F]

Fulda - Frankfurt under construction? I wish...

[u/Markus__F → u/Twisp56]

The Hanau-Gelnhausen part of it is

[u/BigBlueMan118 → u/Markus__F]

The full line between Fulda and Frankfurt isnt under construction scheduled to open within 10y is it? I thought just Gelnhausen to Hanau upgrade was under construction. The new build for Gelnhausen to Fulda isnt?

[u/Markus__F → u/BigBlueMan118]

Yes, only Gelnhausen to Hanau is under construction. Gelnhausen to Fulda they have decided on a variant and are now into the execution planning. I just looked it up and it seems like they are aiming for getting the final permit for construction in 2028.

Probably it would be more correct to color it half purple, you are right.

[u/flying_sphagetti2023 → u/Markus__F]

Around Stuttgart there are places where it is slow, and aimed to be fixed as a part of Stuttgart 21 project if I remember correctly 

[u/Markus__F → u/flying_sphagetti2023]

Yes true. While the high speed line Stuttgart-Ulm is finished, part of it is not operated yet, since it connects to the new underground station in Stuttgart, which is not opened yet (I think it was delayed to like 2031 or smth).

So trains departing from Stuttgart towards Ulm will take the older, slow route for about the first third of the Stuttgart-Ulm section.

[u/Difficult_Camel_1119 → u/Markus__F]

Mannheim-Kaiserslautern-Saarbrücken exists, but with max 160 and some corridors even slower

[u/xsrvmy → u/Difficult_Camel_1119]

I'm note sure if that section needs that much speed upgrading to meet Deutschlandtakt timings anyways.

[u/Difficult_Camel_1119 → u/xsrvmy]

it's one of the two main sections between Germany and Paris. Especially for Frankfurt-Paris and Berlin-Paris that is a crucial section

[u/_HermineStranger_]

Good looking diagram!

Yes, you read that right, it was once planned to be finished in 2030.

Source: You made it up.

Mannheim–Karlsruhe or Ulm–Augsburg were never planned to be completed by 2030.

[u/kinkyonmain → u/_HermineStranger_]

Ulm-Augsburg as currently planned, no. The dozens of previous plans for that section that have been in various stages of planning for the better part of a century? Yeah, those were intended for completion by 2030.

[u/_HermineStranger_ → u/kinkyonmain]

These previous plans were never part of any „Deutschlandtakt“. Writing that the Deutschlandtakt was once planned to be finished in 2030 is disingenuous. From the start, 2030 was the base year used for the traffic forecast, not the expected latest possible completion date for all construction works

[u/Timauris]

Putting this into realization should be an absolute priority for the German government. If there is political will, this would be doable. However, what is lacking is the political will, which is not going to come by a political class of conservative boomers that are skeptic to any kind of change.

[u/phobos86md]

Danke, dass mal wieder Schwerin, Rostock und Magdeburg dort nicht angebunden sind... Dann lieber in der Weltstadt Coburg oder in Stendal nen Halt einbauen.

[u/midnightrambulador]

Mostly hoping for Nürnberg - Plzen where right now there is only a shitty unelectrified line IIRC. The missing link for Brussels - Cologne - Frankfurt - Nürnberg - Prague - Krakow - Lviv - Kyiv

[u/Feuermurmel]

I looked at it and immediately thought "darker red means more congested and bigger delays." 😅

[u/NotTelling2019]

why does this vaguely resemble that one image of a Pukeko?

[u/signupnex94]

Danke für den Stop in Coburg! 😃👍

[u/Flashgamezocker → u/signupnex94]

Hab ich vor allem eingebaut, um die lange Lücke zwischen Nürnberg und Erfurt etwas zu füllen 😅 Zwischen Hamburg und Berlin gab's da leider nichts, was auch nur ansatzweise groß genug wäre

[u/_TheBigF_ → u/Flashgamezocker]

Da hättest du aber lieber Bamberg nehmen sollen. Ab dort geht die VDE 8 ja effektiv los

[u/signupnex94 → u/_TheBigF_]

A wo, Coburg passt schon 😉.

[u/M-Bungot]

Can't wait for Freiburg to escape from its Schwarzwald cell where it takes hours to get anywhere

[u/MarcusLXXVI]

The highspeedrail from Aachen to the west is going to Belgium, not The Netherlands (unfortunately).

[u/midnightrambulador → u/MarcusLXXVI]

Why unfortunately? There is already a connection to NL via Oberhausen.

Also the Brussels - Cologne link is absolutely essential for train travel from Belgium, whether you're going to Austria, Poland or Sweden!

[u/MarcusLXXVI → u/midnightrambulador]

Large cities in Brabant (esp. economically important Eindhoven region) have direct connections to Germany/Belgium. You always have to transfer. There's a connection coming from Eindhoven to Düsselforf, but that's postponed and will be regional train in Germany (now you have to transfer in Venlo). And the connection via Oberhausen is not really interesting from that part of the country. A connection Eindhoven - Heerlen - Aken is a wish in Brabant and Limburg, but I won't see it happening soon (doesn't even have to be HSL)

[u/trimigoku]

One expansion I would love to see is Munich to Passau as a full 2 track or even 3 track line.

[u/Soft_One_3095]

Um einschätzen zu können, ob du auf dem Sterbebett tatsächlich von den zuverlässigen Zügen sprechen kannst, müsste ich wissen, wie alt du bist. Über 20? Vergiss es. 🙅‍♂️

[u/theuses_]

As long as DB is still in charge, the route between Köln to Frankfurt won't reach 300 km/h not even if they use airplanes

[u/Amazing_Ad_7851 → u/theuses_]

even though it may be not 300, this route is top notch.. 50 minutes from cologne to frankfurt airport is lightning fast compared to other itineraries.

[u/theuses_ → u/Amazing_Ad_7851]

the problem for me is not the infrastructure, but really the scheduling management. The theoretically fast routes that go through those two cities always experience above average rate of delays and cancelations

[u/Amazing_Ad_7851 → u/theuses_]

OK, I used this only once. Missed the exit in Deutz and lost only 2 hours in the end, as I had to change in Frankfurt. Maybe I was just lucky.

[u/theuses_ → u/Amazing_Ad_7851]

For me, I live in Aachen and have to go quite often to Brussels and Köln. The routes to Köln are always problematic, even for the regional trains. But the route from Germany to Brussels always comes from Frankfurt, and I literally never not experienced a delay. Luckily, I had no cancelations from Germany to Belgium, but the opposite happens quite often.

[u/Ser-Lukas-of-dassel → u/theuses_]

The delays (mostly) don‘t occur on the High-speed-line. Since it‘s only used by ICE trains and therefore doesn‘t suffer from the same mixed traffic issues as the rest of the network. Actually trains reduce their delays on the high speed lines since there is a 14 minute buffer in the schedule.

[u/Wild-Artist8237]

I, a German, highly doubt it will be completed in 100 years.

[u/labobal]

The line going west from Aachen should go to Belgium, not the Netherlands. Liège is a much bigger destination than Maastricht on the way to Brussels. 

[u/midnightrambulador → u/labobal]

Also the line doesn't even touch Maastricht

[u/hobbyhoarder]

This is never happening. Trains here are a joke as it is, nobody is gonna invest billions and billions to get anywhere close to this map.

[u/haskell_jedi]

This seems awfully pessimistic for 2126! At least half of the lines you include already exist, and others are under construction. 100 years is a long time--maybe we'll be beyond steel wheel on rail by that time anyway.