International long-distance traffic from Germany to France, Belgium and the Netherlands is on the rise. “In 2015, we recorded five million passengers on these journeys, representing a 3.5% increase, more market share and a new record for us”, said Birgit Bohle, Chief Executive of DB Fernverkehr AG. The train is now the leader on the Stuttgart-Paris journey, ahead of airline transport, mainly thanks to shorter journey times. Today, from Frankfurt, it only takes three hours to travel to Brussels, four hours to Amsterdam and three hours and 50 minutes to Paris.

Despite the terrorist attacks in Paris, the strikes and the six week-long construction works in Belgium, 2015 was a very good year for the railway lines maintained by SNCF and DB and for the ICE (German high-speed line) International, which all registered a 1% growth in passenger numbers. This success also concerns journeys to the Netherlands, as the ICE International Frankfurt-Cologne-Amsterdam and the Intercity Berlin-Hanover-Amsterdam recorded a 7% increase in customers, amounting to 2.3 million passengers in 2015.

2016 will be promising as well: a new high speed line will open on 3 July in France and a second railway between Frankfurt and Stuttgart will be built. These positive changes will improve railway transport services overall, especially for the journeys facing significant demand, for example the connection from Brussels to London.

(Source: Deutsche Bahn)