The most modern high speed line in Germany linking Berlin to Munich was inaugurated on Friday 8 December in the presence of the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, of the Federal Minister Christian Schmidt and the heads of the governments of the “Länder” together with the President of Deutsche Bahn Mr Richard Lutz and many representatives of railways and politics. The inauguration included the running of two special trains and an official ceremony in Berlin.

With the completion of the high speed line section between Erfurt and Ebensfeld (near Bamberg), the last missing link of the ambitious transport projects called “German Unity” (“Deutsche Einheit”) was completed. In accordance with the new timetable from 10 December, 35 ICE trainsets run every day on this new line with a length of over 500 km.

Federal Minister Christian Schmidt underlined: “The most important of all transport projects realised as part of the “Deutsche Einheit” project, now enters operation. We are arriving at the finish of a marathon race that started in 1991. A high performance infrastructure in all parts of Germany is an indispensible condition for ensuring the unity of our country…”

President of Deutsche Bahn Richard Lutz said: “Today is an historic day. Thanks to this railway line of the superlatives, Germany’s distances are shrinking. Berlin and Munich are connected with a record travel time of under four hours, from city centre to city centre. With this new offer we will make more people than ever enthusisastic about the railways...”.

(Source: Deutsche Bahn)