Deutsche Bahn (DB) is aiming to attract 50 million more passenger a year from now until 2030 as part of a major initiative to strengthen its long-distance rail services.
By 2030, DB will be operating 150 more services than it does today and up to two ICE services an hour between almost every major city.
The programme is in response to increasing competition from long-distance coach operators. In 2014, 129 million used long-distance trains, down 1.5 per cent on the previous year.
The expanded long-distance network will create new direct services between Chemnitz and Düsseldorf, Hannover and Potsdam, and Nürnberg and Zürich.
DB is investing €12 billion in improving services, including an expansion of the fleet to 360 ICE trains. DB will start introducing the first of 130 next generation ICx high-speed trains from 2018 on the Hamburg-München and Hamburg-Stuttgart routes. Double-deck IC-NEU trains will also begin to go into service on the Dresden–Köln and Leipzig-Emden lines from the end of this year.
DB also plans to upgrade its fleet of ICE3 and ICE T trains from July 2017.
The investment in long-distance rail services will create an additional 1,500 jobs, DB has said.
