Berlin: Traffic chaos expected – railway rebuilds main routes

Deutsche Bahn is "taking care of all main routes": Travelers in Berlin and Brandenburg will need strong nerves in 2025. That is what the company is planning now.

Deutsche Bahn is tackling several major construction projects in Berlin and Brandenburg this year. Almost all of the main routes leading away from Berlin are affected, the company announced. A total of an estimated 750 to 800 million euros will be invested.

"Basically, we have all the main routes leading from Berlin under control," said Alexander Kaczmarek, Group representative for Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The aim is to make the railways in both federal states more punctual and reliable.

The ongoing major construction site at Berlin Central Station is already known. Here, half of the basement will be closed until mid-April, and on two long weekends all eight tracks will be closed. The work on the line between Berlin and Hamburg is also well known. From August, this important long-distance route will be completely closed for nine months and extensively renovated.

The biggest commissioning this year concerns the Dresden railway between Berlin Südkreuz and Blankenfelde. The 16-kilometer-long route, which runs straight south from Südkreuz, is intended to "turn the network in the city on its head," as Kaczmarek put it. "This is the building block, the most important building block, that we were still missing for the Berlin hub."

Currently, all trains heading south have to travel via the Anhalter Bahn. From the end of the year, they will be able to take the direct route of the Dresden Railway to Blankenfelde. This will not only save ten minutes on the way to Dresden , but the trains will no longer have to jostle with "a lot of ICE trains from Erfurt, Frankfurt , Nuremberg , Munich and Stuttgart".

For the construction work, a replacement bus service is planned between Priesterweg and Blankenfelde from July 25 to August 4. From August 25 to September 22, the replacement service will affect the route between Mahlow and Blankenfelde.

Construction is also continuing on the important connection between Berlin and Halle/Saale – the so-called Anhalter Bahn. This route is particularly important for the railway, as passenger numbers between Berlin and Munich are increasing rapidly.

The plan is to run to Munich every 30 minutes and use more sprinter trains, explained Kaczmarek. "But before all of this can work, the line has to be renewed." This year, tracks and switches between Südkreuz and Niedergörsdorf will be renewed from September 24th to December 13th. There will be full closures and long-distance trains will be diverted.

The long-planned expansion of the Lehrter Stammbahn from Vorsfelde near Wolfsburg via Stendal to Wustermark is also set to begin. From June 2025 to December 2026, the first step will be to create new passing and overtaking options between Großwudicke in Brandenburg and Stendal in Saxony-Anhalt. The project is scheduled to be fully operational in 2034. The aim is to shorten travel times for passenger and freight traffic.

Alexanderplatz station is also to be renovated. At the end of this year, the shops will have to leave, then the building will be gutted and renovated. Completion is expected to take place at the end of 2029, but the construction contract has not yet been awarded.