train traffic - Railways temporarily thins ICE supply in NRW
German Rail (Deutsche Bahn) temporarily reduces its ICE stop services in North Rhine-Westphalia. From the start of the week, changes in the timetable meant that Bonn will now have only five daily direct connections to Berlin, instead of the previous nine.
As shown in the DB Navigator app, the number of departing long-distance trains in Aachen has been reduced from four to two, and in Guetersloh from six to three. Düren, west of Cologne, no longer has any ICE stops, while Herford now has only one, down from four. Herzogenrath, Geilenkirchen, Erkelenz, Rheydt, Moenchengladbach, Viersen, and Krefeld each now have only one daily ICE stop, instead of two.
According to the railway, this is only a temporary reduction until December 14, when the timetable changes will take effect. There is currently an unusually high level of construction activity along many railway lines across Germany, which affects the available capacity on the infrastructure and operational stability even beyond the construction sites.
A railway spokesman pointed out that the ICE offer has only been "adjusting locally" and that the reduction is small compared to the previous regular timetable - 95% of ICE and IC trains that pass through NRW are still running as before. Only 5% of long-distance trains are affected by the temporary timetable reduction.
Criticism from the State Minister
In mid-July, Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) expressed concern about the reduced ICE offer in a letter to Bahn CEO Richard Lutz. He criticized the impact on some cities as "enormous" and warned that passengers might be forced to switch to air travel as a result, which would counteract efforts to shift traffic onto the rails and thus also harm climate protection.
Bahn CEO Lutz replied to the letter in writing, but neither the railway nor the state transport ministry wished to comment on the contents of the letter. A spokeswoman for the ministry said they would closely monitor the developments in the offer reductions in the coming months and see if and to what extent they would be reversed.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the city of Düren has lost all its ICE stops, while Herford now has only one, down from four, due to German Rail's temporary reductions in service. Despite these changes, 95% of ICE and IC trains still operate as usual in North Rhine-Westphalia, as stated by the railway.
