List of Intercity-Express lines in Germany

This list of Intercity-Express lines in Germany includes all Intercity-Express lines in Germany, not including ICE Sprinter. The latest changes to the Intercity Express network took place at the timetable change on 12 December 2021. The network currently has 35 scheduled lines.

Legend

; Line
: The official line name given by DB Fernverkehr for each line. Some lines, which have many branches, are divided into individual sections, which deviate slightly from the basic line.

; Route
: The route represents all stops on a route. Stops, which are served only by a few trains during the day, but are passed through or bypassed several times a day, are shown in ''italics''.

; Stock
: This column indicates which type of ICE train usually runs on this line.

Lines (2018/19)

10–15

The lines start in Berlin. Line 10 starts at Gesundbrunnen station and runs toward Cologne. Lines 12 and 13 operate from Berlin Ostbahnhof via Brunswick to Frankfurt, while lines 11 and 15 run from the low level of Berlin Hauptbahnhof via Erfurt to Frankfurt. Some trains start/end in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen (11 and 15), Hamburg (11), Kiel (11) and Warnemünde (15).

10

Line 10 runs hourly between Berlin and Düsseldorf or Cologne. At Hamm, the train is divided or combined depending on direction of travel. One portion of the train runs via the Ruhr to Düsseldorf, some continuing to Cologne and Aachen and others to Cologne/Bonn Airport. The other train portion runs via the Bergisches Land to Cologne, some continuing to Bonn and Koblenz.

A MET set operates as ICE 1040/1043 between Berlin Ostbahnhof and Düsseldorf without being split in Hamm.

On Friday, ICE 1046 departing from Düsseldorf diverges via Neuss to Mönchengladbach.

From Monday to Saturday, ICE 832/841 sets continue from Hanover to Oldenburg via Bremen (and vice versa). Nienburg (Weser) is served only towards Oldenburg. On nights from Sunday to Monday, ICE 850 runs from Berlin to Oldenburg.

There is also a pair of night services (ICE 948/949) that do not run over the high-speed line between Berlin and Hanover, but run via Magdeburg and Brunswick.

ICE 949 starts in Aachen on Sundays.

11

Line 11 runs from Hamburg via Berlin and Frankfurt to Munich. The services run over the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway between Leipzig and Erfurt and the Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed railway between Mannheim and Stuttgart. The section from Berlin to Munich is served every two hours. Some trains start or end in Hamburg-Altona. The trains starting in Berlin start in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen or Berlin Hauptbahnhof.

At 8:45 pm on Sunday evening, ICE 990 leaves Munich Hauptbahnhof and runs via Ulm, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Hanover to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, which it reaches around 6:00 in the morning. This ICE does not run from Fulda over the high-speed line to Hanover, but first via Bad Hersfeld and only from Göttingen on the high-speed line. On other days of the week this service ends in Frankfurt.

Furthermore, ICE 991 runs from Mondays to Fridays from Wiesbaden via Mainz, Mannheim and Stuttgart to Munich.

On some days another night ICE is added from Munich to Berlin with the following route:

12

Services on the line run every two hours from Berlin via Brunswick, Kassel, Frankfurt and Mannheim to Switzerland. From Karlsruhe, it runs on parts of the unfinished Karlsruhe–Basel high-speed railway. Trains run via Basel to Interlaken three times a day.

13

This line was introduced at the timetable change in December 2017. It connects Berlin and Frankfurt via Brunswick. It replaced line 11, which now runs via Erfurt instead of Brunswick. The trains run every 2 hours.

The ICE 1598 service runs as a Sprinter between Frankfurt and Berlin Spandau with a route via Kassel (without stop), Göttingen (without stop) and Wolfsburg (without stop).

15

Line 15 is an ICE line, parts of which have the character of a Sprinter line. It was introduced in December 2015. Four pairs of trains (six pairs on Fridays and Sundays) connect Berlin daily with Frankfurt in less than 4 hours, around 15 minutes faster than via Braunschweig. The service on the entire section between Berlin and Frankfurt was increased to two-hour intervals with the timetable change in December 2017. Individual trains have continued to Warnemünde since December 2018.

Already in the annual timetable 2003/2004 there was an ICE line 15 as a successor to the Interregio line 15, but with a route via Potsdam, Dessau and Naumburg and Weimar. In the timetables 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 there were three train pairs of the ICE line 15 Frankfurt-Erfurt-Halle-Berlin together with the ICE line 51 Dortmund-Paderborn-Kassel-Erfurt-Leipzig-Dresden as a line exchanger in time with the ICE Line 50 Frankfurt-Erfurt-Leipzig-Dresden.

In the opposite direction individual services start in Darmstadt or even in Stuttgart. From Frankfurt to Berlin trains run as a Sprinter and serve only Erfurt and Halle. On the other sections all the smaller ICE stations are served.

One pair of trains runs from Monday to Friday and Sundays via Frankfurt to Saarbrücken.

Since December 2017, some services have been operated by ICE 3 (instead of ICE T), achieving a travel time reduction of about ten minutes.

18–28

The primary route segments of lines 18, 20, 22, 25, 26 and 28 all begin in Hamburg-Altona station. Some services continue to Kiel and Lübeck, Oldenburg or Stralsund and Binz. The trains to Lübeck and Kiel do not stop in Hamburg-Altona.

Lines 18 and 28 go via Berlin, while lines 20, 22, 25 and 26 go via Hanover.

Occasionally a train portion begins in Bremen, which is then coupled in Hanover with a portion from Hamburg. Lines 20 and 22 pass through several stations in larger cities without stopping. During some exhibitions, lines 20, 22, 25 and 26 also serve Hannover Messe/Laatzen station.

18

The line 18 was established with the opening of the Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway. The trains start in Hamburg or occasionally in Berlin, the first train in the morning starts in Berlin Gesundbrunnen. Line 18 runs exclusively via Halle, while the otherwise similar line 28 runs via Leipzig. Line 29 uses the same route between Berlin and Munich but stops at fewer stations. Coburg is served only by two trains to the north. Only three pairs of trains on this line stop in Bamberg daily. Up to three train pairs to/from Nuremberg run via Ingolstadt, one train a day running north on this route passes through Ingolstadt without stopping. The other three pairs of trains each day change direction of travel in Nuremberg and run via Augsburg to Munich Hauptbahnhof, with further stops in Donauwörth and München-Pasing. Services on the line run every two hours, resulting, in conjunction with line 28, in an hourly service between Munich and Berlin.

One train each is operated with ICE 2, ICE 3 and ICE 4.

20

Line 20 connects Hamburg every two hours with Zurich, Chur or Basel. Between Hamburg and Frankfurt, it overlaps with line 22 to produce an hourly frequency. Some trains start back in Kiel, then run via Neumünster and Hamburg Dammtor to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. This line passes through some stations like Hamburg-Harburg, Lüneburg, Uelzen, Fulda or Hanau without stopping.

Every day, the first ICE service of the line runs from Wiesbaden to Hamburg-Altona (ICE 672).

22

Line 22 connects Hamburg with Stuttgart every two hours. Between Hamburg and Frankfurt (Main) it overlaps with line 20 to produce an hourly frequency. Some trains which start back in Kiel do not serve Hamburg-Altona. Besides Hamburg-Harburg, the stations Fulda and Hanau are not served by this line. One train pair runs from Frankfurt (Main) to Oldenburg.

25

Services on the line run hourly from Hamburg to Munich. Only a few trains stop in the stations of Lüneburg and Uelzen between Hamburg and Hanover. Every two hours, a train portion begins either in Bremen or Oldenburg, which is coupled in Hannover with another train portion coming from somewhere else or starting in Hanover. Delmenhorst, Verden and Nienburg are served by individual services only. The line operates almost exclusively on the Nuremberg–Munich high-speed railway, while only a few trains go through Treuchtlingen, Donauwörth and Augsburg.

In the night from Sunday to Monday the ICE 781 departs at 2:30 from Berlin Ostbahnhof to Munich. However, this does not run on the high-speed line Berlin-Hannover, but via Potsdam and Magdeburg.

The last ICE service on the line each day runs from Hamburg-Altona to Wiesbaden.

26

Services on the line run every two hours between Hamburg and Karlsruhe. Individual services continue beyond Hamburg to Stralsund or Binz. In addition, the line includes additional trains that run on weekdays from Hamburg or Binz to Frankfurt, Munich, Innsbruck or Schwarzach-St. Veit and return. These service formerly ran as IC 26, but are now being operated with ICE T sets.

28

Services on line 28 begin in the north of Germany, either in Hamburg, Stralsund or seasonally in Binz. The line runs via Leipzig, while the otherwise similar line 18 runs via Halle. Only a few stops are served between Hamburg and Berlin. After crossing Berlin, trains run via Leipzig and Erfurt. In Coburg, there are three trains to the south and two trains to the north, since a stop in Coburg would cause a travel delay of about 12 minutes, making it impossible to achieve a two-hour connection with lines 18 or 28. Between Nuremberg and Munich all trains run via Ingolstadt except for a pair of services, but all but two ICE services running south pass through Ingolstadt without stopping. The other service reverses in Nuremberg and goes via Donauwörth and Augsburg to Munich. The route via Augsburg is about 45 minutes longer than the one via the Nuremberg–Ingolstadt HSL. Services on the line run every two hours and, together with services on line 18, result in an hourly service between Munich and Berlin.

Two trains are operated by ICE 1. Another train is operated with an ICE 2.

Since December 2017, a pair of trains have run from Leipzig to Jena on the following route:

29

Line 29 was re-launched in December 2017. It connects Berlin and Munich. By 2018, three train pairs daily connected Berlin with Munich in less than 4 hours. Services between Halle and Erfurt run on the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway. With the timetable change in December 2018, services were increased to 5 train pairs, resulting in trains running at intervals of approximately two hours.

Some additional services are operated with ICE T sets at weekends.

30

Since the start of the 2019 annual timetable, an ICE service has run from Monday to Thursday and on Sunday on the IC 30 route from Hamburg-Altona to Cologne. More ICE trains are to run on line 30 in the future.

31

Some of the services of IC line 31 are operated between Hamburg-Altona and Frankfurt via the West Rhine Railway using ICE 1 sets. Currently a train pair is operated between Hamburg and Frankfurt as an ICE 1 and a train pair is operated between Dortmund and Munich as an ICE T. Some trains continue from Munich to Austria.

Some trains continue from Munich to Seefeld in Tirol.

From Monday to Friday, an ICE operates from Cologne to Hamburg in the morning on a different route via Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Mülheim (Ruhr), Essen and Bochum.

41–49

Lines 41, 42, 43, 45, 47 and 49 all usually begin in Cologne, Essen or Dortmund and run on the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line:

41

Line 41 starts in Essen and runs hourly via Frankfurt am Main and Nuremberg to Munich. Individual trains begin or end in Dortmund. The stops at Cologne/Bonn Airport, Siegburg/Bonn, Montabaur and Limburg South are served by only a few trains. From Monday to Wednesday, the last ICE service from the Ruhr ends in Würzburg and continues in the morning to Essen. A pair of trains leaves for Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Saturdays.

One train runs from Darmstadt to Munich with a detour through the Ruhr area. It starts on Saturdays and Sundays in Cologne Messe/Deutz.

The return train runs from Munich via the same route to Limburg Süd from Monday to Friday, but then runs via Wiesbaden and Mainz to Frankfurt. On Saturdays it ends early in Cologne and on Sundays in Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof.

42

Line 42 connects Dortmund and Munich every two hours. It overlap with line 30 between Dortmund and Cologne, with line 43 between Cologne and Mannheim and with line 11 between Mannheim and Munich to provide an hourly service on these sections.

One train pair begins (ICE 513) and ends (ICE 512) in Münster, with the train towards Münster stopping in Recklinghausen instead of Bochum and Dortmund.

One train runs between Dortmund and Cologne via Hagen, Wuppertal and Solingen instead of Bochum, Essen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf, but another train on line 91 runs via Essen. Since December 2018, a train pair has run to/from Hamburg, restoring a service that had existed prior to mid-June 2014.

There is a train from Munich via Stuttgart and Mainz to Wiesbaden on Sundays (ICE 1190) and from Monday to Thursday (ICE 510).

At night, a train pair runs from/to Cologne over a different route through Cologne/Bonn Airport, Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe.

43

Line 43 connects Cologne every two hours with Basel. Some trains start back in Hanover or Dortmund, others are coupled in Cologne with a train on line 78 from Amsterdam.

45

Line 45 starts in Cologne main station and stops between Frankfurt and Cologne at some stations of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line. At the end of the high-speed line, it runsto the west and goes via Wiesbaden and Mainz to Stuttgart. In the period of the federal horticulture show (being held in Heilbronn) in 2019, one train pair (ICE 714/715) runs on weekdays via the Franconia Railway and the southern Franconia Railway with additional stops in Heilbronn (no stop in Vaihingen (Enz)).

From Monday to Friday, one train (ICE 712) only runs from Mainz to Cologne.

47

The line, which was introduced with the 2014 timetable change, connected individual services between Dortmund and Stuttgart running over the Cologne–Frankfurt and Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed routes. Frankfurt is served only at the airport and not at the main station. Since the 2018/19 timetable change, one train pair has run to/from Münster. It stops in Recklinghausen, Wanne-Eickel and Gelsenkirchen. In addition, the frequency has been increased to approximately once every two-hours.

49

Line 49 runs between Cologne and Frankfurt (Main) and stops at all stations of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line.

From Monday to Friday, two trains start from Dortmund:

In addition, from Monday to Thursday, a train runs from Cologne to Hamm:

50

Line 50 is the only east-west ICE line in central Germany. It begins in the east in Dresden and runs via Riesa to Leipzig. After Erfurt, the line runs on the new line. In the city of Frankfurt (Main), trains stop at the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and the airport and continue to Wiesbaden via Mainz. Until the timetable change in December 2015, a train pair ran from Eisenach via Bebra, Kassel, Paderborn and Hamm to Düsseldorf.

There are services every two hours between Dresden and Wiesbaden.

During the daytime it is partly operated as follows:

78–79

Lines 78 and 79 are international lines. They connect Frankfurt am Main and the Benelux countries:

78

Line 78 connects Frankfurt am Main with Amsterdam and runs over the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed railway. Arnhem is the first stop beyond the Dutch border. Services on the line run every two hours.

79

Line 79 connects Frankfurt (Main) with Brussels and operates in Germany on two high-speed lines: the Cologne–Aachen high-speed railway and the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed railway. The first station beyond the Belgian border is Liège-Guillemins. The trains previously ran every four hours until services were intensified from December 2016 to run every two hours. On the edge of the day individual services stop at Limburg Sud, Montabaur, Siegburg/Bonn and Cologne/Bonn Airport. Occasionally the trains between Frankfurt and Cologne are coupled with those of line 78.

82–84

Lines 82 to 84 are international lines connecting western and southern Germany with France:

82

The line 82 begins at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and ends at Paris Gare de l'Est. It operates over the LGV Est, a French high-speed line. Trains run every four hours on the route via Saarbrücken. It stops in Forbach only once a day. Since the commissioning of a new section of the LGV Est in 2016, two train pairs are also routed via Strasbourg, creating an approximate two-hour cycle between Frankfurt, Mannheim and Paris. Both TGVs and ICEs run on the line.

83

Line 83 starts in Stuttgart. From there, five pairs of trains run over the LGV Est to Paris Est. One train pair per day starts or ends in Munich.

84

The line 84 connects Frankfurt with Marseille over the LGV Rhin-Rhône and the LGV Méditerranée once a day.

85–91

Lines 85, 88, 89, 90 and 91 are international lines that end in Switzerland, Austria and Hungary:

85

Line 85 has connected Frankfurt with Milan once a day through the Gotthard Base Tunnel since December 2017. It runs as EuroCity 151 from Basel to Milan.

The line runs in Germany as ECE 85 and therefore it is not an ICE line, strictly speaking.

In the opposite direction, the train runs between Milan and Olten via the Lötschberg axis (through the Lötschberg Base Tunnel). The journey time is 7:36 hours, which is only two minutes longer than the return journey. The train runs as EuroCity 52 as far as Basel.

88

Line 88 is a EuroCity-Express service, that was introduced in December 2020. Since then, six pairs of trains have run between Munich and Zurich every two hours, replacing EuroCity line 88. It is operated with Alstom ETR 610 (''Astoro'') sets of the Swiss Federal Railways.

89

Line 89 was reintroduced with the timetable change in December 2016. Munich is connected with Feldkirch via Innsbruck once a day. Services on the line run only on Saturdays in the winter sports and the summer season.

90

The 90 line connects Munich with Vienna and Budapest every two hours. At the weekend, a train pair is extended via Stuttgart to Frankfurt, although Günzburg is served only by trains running towards Frankfurt. It is one of the few ICE lines operated with Railjets.

91

Line 91 begins in Frankfurt am Main and runs via Würzburg and Nuremberg to Vienna every two hours. Two pairs of trains go via Frankfurt to Dortmund. Another pair of trains leaves from Würzburg deviating via Fulda to Hamburg. A section between Hamburg and Dortmund was dropped in December 2018.

Since December 2018, there has been a daily train pair between Berlin and Vienna (ICE 92/93). On Fridays, ICE 92 continues beyond Berlin to Rostock.

References

Notes

Footnotes

See also

* List of Intercity-Express railway stations
{{Deutsche Bahn

Intercity Express
ICE lines