Nuremberg–Ingolstadt high-speed line closed until December 12

en.Wedoany.com Reported - At 22:00 on October 30, DB InfraGO, the German railway infrastructure company, fully closed the Nuremberg–Ingolstadt North high-speed line, and the closure will last until December 12. Direct ICE trains between Munich and Berlin are rerouted via Augsburg and Donauwörth, extending journey times by about 45 minutes to roughly 4 hours 50 minutes. The Nuremberg–Berlin section is not affected by this construction work, and at least one direct service per hour between Munich and Berlin is maintained.

The core work of this closure is the large-scale replacement of high-speed track, not localized repairs. The construction area covers the section between Allersberg, Kinding and Ingolstadt Nord, with more than 160 kilometers of new steel rail laid and about 10,000 tons of material transported. The project also includes replacing multiple sets of switches, laying new cables, tunnel inspections and drainage system cleaning. DB said trains on some sections of the line run at speeds of up to 300 km/h, and the track needs full replacement after about 20 years of intensive use. The project costs about 70 million euros, and the line carries about 170 trains per day.

Timetables for several ICE lines are adjusted during the closure period. ICE 28 (Munich–Nuremberg–Berlin–Hamburg) operates only between Nuremberg and Hamburg and no longer stops at Munich Central Station; ICE 29 (Munich–Ingolstadt–Nuremberg–Berlin) is rerouted between Ingolstadt and Nuremberg, extending the journey by about 30 minutes; ICE 25 trains via Nuremberg operate only between Nuremberg and Hamburg, skipping Munich and Ingolstadt; ICE 41 operates only between Nuremberg and Essen/Dortmund. Direct trains from Munich to Hamburg via Kassel are reduced from one per hour to one every two hours, with other services starting and ending at Nuremberg. During the closure, direct trains from Munich to Frankfurt via Nuremberg are suspended, and DB recommends that passengers travel via Stuttgart.

Alternative regional transport is mainly provided by bus connections. RE1 regional trains between Munich–Ingolstadt–Nuremberg are rerouted via Treuchtlingen or Augsburg, and stations such as Allersberg, Kinding and Ingolstadt Nord are served by replacement buses, with bus journey times about twice as long as the original rail journeys.

The closure is scheduled to end on December 12, one day before the effective date of DB's new 2027 timetable (December 13). The new timetable will add a Hamburg–Munich ICE Sprinter, with three trains per day in each direction, stopping only at Hanover and Nuremberg, with a target journey time of 5 hours 20 minutes.