The Deutsche Bahn plans to cut journey times from Wolfsburg to Berlin while work to upgrade the line is under way. As announced on 13 November 2026, a revised connection in Braunschweig is expected to save half an hour from the timetable change on 13 December. However, the measure does not replace the direct high-speed train service between Wolfsburg and Berlin.
To make the improvement, Deutsche Bahn says it will adjust the timetable for regional express RE 50 between Wolfsburg and Braunschweig. Passengers travelling towards Berlin will in future wait ten minutes, rather than forty, for their connection to an Intercity-Express there. According to a report by the German Press Agency, the change was agreed with the authority responsible for local transport. It affects the transfer from regional to long-distance services and therefore a connection on which passengers have to change trains during the engineering works.
The upgrade of the line between Hanover and Berlin has substantially lengthened the journey from Wolfsburg to the capital. Before work began, the direct journey took about an hour, according to the German Press Agency. On 13 November, passengers were travelling for more than three hours, according to NDR, and had to change in Braunschweig or Magdeburg Even after the planned reduction, the journey will still be considerably longer than the former direct service.
Work began on 2 October 2026 and is scheduled to continue until 11 December 2027. Long-distance trains between Hanover and Berlin are being diverted. According to NDR, direct services to Berlin from Hanover are still available; Wolfsburg, by contrast, relies on alternative routes. The new connection in Braunschweig is intended to ease the impact of the diversion for some passengers.
At the same time, Intercity-Express services from Wolfsburg towards the west are due to resume from the timetable change. No equivalent direct service to Berlin has been announced. For journeys to the capital, the connection between the two types of train remains the key factor: the planned time saving comes from a shorter wait, not a faster journey on the closed line.
The extended journey is particularly significant for many commuters. According to the German Press Agency, numerous employees travel between Wolfsburg and Berlin from Volkswagen The passenger association Pro Bahn had criticised the lengthy journey times. The change now announced responds to this inconvenience, but does not solve the underlying problem of the missing direct service while the line is being upgraded.
Whether a connection can be made as planned on any particular journey also depends on actual operating conditions. The announced ten minutes is a timetable figure, not a guarantee for every journey. The announced time saving in the eastbound direction does not imply a corresponding saving on the return journey from Berlin to Wolfsburg.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).