Tickets for the new daily high-speed train between Paris and Berlin will go on sale from October 16, two months before the first service. Thanks to it, travel time will be reduced from nine to eight hours and the need to change trains will be eliminated. The price of one trip will range from 59 to 69 euros (approximately 1,480 to 1,735 CZK), the Railway Gazette website informs.
The novelty was presented by the French railway company SNCF and the German national carrier Deutsche Bahn (DB) at the international rail technology fair InnoTrans 2024 in Berlin.
“The creation of this connection is another concrete proof of Franco-German friendship and contributes to the goal that is common to both countries, which is the promotion of low-carbon mobility,” said SNCF chief Alain Krakovitch. “SNCF and DB are sending a strong signal for the development of European rail transport,” added DB CEO Michael Peterson.
It will be possible to reserve tickets from October 16, the first high-speed trains will depart exactly two months later. Prices for second class start at 59 euros, first class costs 69 euros. Air France, for example, offers tickets between the two cities on October 16 for an average of 248 euros (about 6,230 CZK), German Lufthansa for an average of 139 euros (just under 3,490 CZK).
British media company Euronews Travel on the X network published a map of the route and detailed departure and arrival times. Daily high-speed trains leave Paris Gare de l’Est at 09:55 and arrive at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 18:03, in the opposite direction, passengers depart from Berlin Central Station at 11:54 and arrive in the French capital at 19:55. Intermediate stops will be the cities of Strasbourg, Karlsruhe and Frankfurt am Main.
Daily high-speed trains can transport up to 320,000 passengers per year. They complement the night services that have been running on the route since last year and whose journey takes less than nine hours, but passengers have to change trains two or three times.
Since the introduction of daily high-speed trains between the French and German capitals, the representatives of both railway companies promise to reduce the impact on the environment. While traveling by train produces two kilograms of carbon dioxide, traveling by plane creates 200 kilograms of this gas. In cooperation with the Italian railway company Trenitalia, DB plans to connect Munich with Milan and Rome in the future.
Source: www.tyden.cz
