VBB | Mission “Secure connection despite ruined timetables”

Infamous transfer point: Hennigsdorf train station in 2022 Photo: Nicolas Šustr The people's soul is currently boiling over in Schwedt. When the timetable changes in December, the town of 34,000 residents in the Uckermark is set to lose its two-hourly direct connection to Berlin. In the future, the RE3 will reach Stralsund every hour.

This was agreed with Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in order to offer more capacity on the connection between Berlin and the Baltic Sea, which is in high demand. An hourly service has been available since this year, but this requires a change in Angermünde.

But the scheduled eight-minute transfer time to the coast is more of a bet than a promise, given the often unpunctual RE3 trains. According to the Berlin-Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB), more than one in five trains were five minutes or more late in August.

The longer stays at the train station in Berlin are not necessarily problematic because of the large rush of travelers with bicycles in summer. These are the often delayed ICE trains on the Anhalter Bahn in the southern section of the line. They have priority and so the RE3 between Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Berlin sometimes has to let three ICE trains ahead and is already a quarter of an hour late.

For the connection to Schwedt there is a little more room for the change with twelve minutes. But even that is often not enough. In five percent of cases the switch did not work in August. And that was one of the better months. The rate was particularly devastating in June, when twelve percent of the connections from RE3 to RB61 were missed.

In general, you can wait up to five minutes for a delayed connecting train. If it is the last connection of the day, there is a wait of up to 20 minutes.

The VBB records for all connections whether the planned connections are achieved, as explained in a press conference at the world's largest railway trade fair, "Innotrans", in Berlin on Wednesday. Automated reports about connection losses are sent daily to the responsible transport companies such as DB Regio, ODEG and NEB. In addition, there are so-called quality discussions with them every month or so, where connections are also discussed.

»There are evaluations of how many of the delays can be attributed to what. And that’s where we have the infrastructure deficiencies first and foremost.”

For example, in the connection in Hennigsdorf between S-Bahn and regional transport, which is also feared by passengers, it has been achieved that the train attendant in RB55 or RE6 always has to check in the rear driver's cab to see whether the S-Bahn train has arrived or is just arriving. This measure and timetable changes caused the rate of connections achieved in Hennigsdorf to rise from around 90 to almost 99 percent from January to August.

Transport companies are making “massive progress” on two measures, says Patrick Schardien from VBB. »Firstly, that the passenger can make his connection request better, for example in an app or via the train's WiFi. And secondly, that the transport companies work more automatically among themselves. Because there are just way too many phone calls these days.”

Up to five telephone calls must be made between different locations to ensure that a delayed train can be connected. This takes time that is often not available in the event of a disruption, when a lot needs to be regulated.

»There are evaluations of how many of the delays can be attributed to what. And the infrastructure deficiencies are our top priority,” says VBB boss Christoph Heuing. So tracks, switches, signals, signal boxes. In the area that is actually in the hands of the train operators, the region is “relatively well positioned in terms of quality”.

“Even if the Federal Republic of Germany wanted to have an efficient rail network as a high priority, it would still take a very long time until it was actually there,” continued Heuing. "That's why, along the way, we have to look at how we can get as much as possible for the passengers from the existing system, which is not satisfactory."

»We have two issues when it comes to infrastructure. One thing is the condition of the tracks. And the second is the utilization and capacity of the route," explains Bernd Arm, head of the supply and infrastructure department at VBB. That's why he's happy that something is really happening on the route from Berlin to Cottbus. Work has been underway for several months to remove a single-track bottleneck in the northern part of Königs Wusterhausen station. “And we have a very big project coming up with the double-track expansion of the line between Lübbenau and Cottbus, which is due to be implemented from December,” Arm continued.

The preparatory work for the reconstruction of the second track, which was dismantled after the Second World War as reparations for the Soviet Union, has been ongoing since 2025. However, the 29 kilometer long route will be completely closed from December. The RE2 then ends in Lübbenau. However, Cottbus will continue to have an hourly direct connection to Berlin - albeit with a journey time a few minutes longer. The RE20, which previously ended in Lübbenau, will reach the city via Calau.

From the end of 2027, RE2 and RE20 will together offer a half-hourly service between Berlin and Cottbus. The VBB is happy that, thanks to the coal phase-out law, they can now actually finance and implement a larger project in the i2030 infrastructure expansion program.

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