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Planning a trip to Berlin soonish? Well, one of the best ways to get to the German capital is about to get substantially quicker. A new rail service is set to launch next year which will cut the journey from Amsterdam to Berlin down to less than six hours – around 30 minutes faster than current routes.
The new service is called Intercity and it’s set to start rolling in December 2023. The Dutch national rail provider NS initially announced the plans back in 2020. Berlin-bound trains currently run every two hours from Amsterdam Centraal station.
It’s managed to reduce the journey time with a few substantial changes. For one, new bits of track have been installed along the route, as well as more places for high-speed trains to pass slower regional lines. It says the new service will also aim to use new locomotives that can work on both the German and Dutch networks. Currently, services have to change locomotives at the border due to a difference in voltage.
If you’re in the UK, this means that a journey by train from London to Berlin with just one change will become substantially shorter too. Since 2018, Eurostar trains have run from the UK to Amsterdam in around four hours. So a morning Eurostar will get you to Amsterdam in time for a quick street food lunch. Your onward train leaves at 3pm and arrives in Berlin at 9.23pm – just in time to dump your stuff, grab a currywurst and hit the bars.
It looks as though that Europe’s intercity train network is stepping up another gear – and we’re totally here for it.
Did you see Spain’s new high-speed train, which will link Barcelona and Madrid for just €18?
Plus: France’s new high-speed train will whizz from Paris to the Riviera in under five hours.
And: check out the swanky new sleeper trains coming to Europe.