Two of Europe’s most important capitals are about to get their first direct rail link, with a high-speed ICE train set to debut December 16th, linking Paris Gare de l’Est with Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof in just over 8 hours.
Up to now, with the exception of a sleeper train inaugurate last December, rail travel between the two cities has required two or more changes of train along the way, although some of the combinations make the trip in just under 9 hours.
The service will be operated by Deutsche Bahn in cooperation with France’s SNCF; the two rail operators made the announcement at a joint press conference last Tuesday. There’ll be one train per day in each direction, with one leaving Paris at 9:55 am and the other leaving Berlin at 11:54 am. There will be stops in each direction at Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt.
Fares for the route start at €59 in standard class and €69 in first.
The route could probably be best described as ‘semi-high speed,’ since the train’s top operating speed of 320km/h can only be achieved on the French section of the route, with true high speed only possible on limited stretches in Germany. As a result, the journey of about 1,000 km takes 8 hours, while an 800 km journey from Paris to Marseille takes only 3 to 3.5 hours.
