At a joint event on 7 October 2016, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Deutsche Bahn (DB) announced their plans for night trains in Germany. ÖBB are to extend their night train network significantly as of the timetable change on 11 December, whilst DB will concentrate in future on overnight IC and ICE services, the number of which is set to increase.
“Overnight travel will remain an attractive option in Germany”, said Berthold Huber, DB Board Member for Traffic and Transport. “Together, our two companies’ overnight trains will ensure a wide range of services to meet various travel needs: comfortable seating in the overnight ICs and ICEs on the one hand, and ÖBB’s classic couchette and sleepers on the other. We look forward to working with ÖBB as an experienced service provider and sales & distribution partner, and will support them energetically.”
DB’s IC/ICE overnight trains
DB will henceforth run eight IC or ICE overnight services every night, plus additional ones at weekends and during the summer holidays. Three new early-morning/late-night intercity services add to the number of night-time connections, boosting the number of seats available on key commuter routes.
The service concept onboard is tailored to the needs of overnight travellers: the light will be dimmable on most of the coaches, tannoy announcements will be much shorter to avoid disturbing sleeping passengers, and much of the train will be classed as a “quiet” area. All intercity ticket classes and products will be recognised on such services, e.g. saver tickets, BahnCards and monthly passes, making the overnight trains as easy to use as their daytime equivalents.
IC/ICE overnight services at a glance
Four existing overnight connections:
- ICE Dortmund–Frankfurt–Munich
- IC Hamburg–Cologne–Frankfurt
- IC Hamburg–Copenhagen
- ICE Basel/Munich–Frankfurt–Hamburg (weekends only)
Four new overnight connections:
- IC Cologne–Berlin–Binz
- IC Basel–Cologne–Hamburg
- IC Berlin–Leipzig–Stuttgart–Munich
- IC Basel–Frankfurt–Hamburg (weekends only)
Three new early-morning/late-night services:
- ICE Frankfurt–Amsterdam
- EC Leipzig–Prague
- IC Ulm–Munich
(Source: Deutsche Bahn)
