Passengers on the long-distance line connecting Prague with Berlin and other cities in northern Germany can expect several changes during the summer season. From May 9 to September 15, České dráhy, together with its partner carrier Deutsche Bahn, will provide a seasonal pair of EC trains between the Czech and German capitals in the evening and early morning hours. Due to the increased demand for rail transport services, from June 15 to August 31, it will only be possible to travel from the Czech Republic to Germany and back with seat reservations, which will be free of charge when purchased at the same time as tickets through all ČD sales channels. Passengers should also pay appropriate attention to changes in timetables due to construction work to be carried out on the German railway infrastructure.
The international line from Prague via Ústí nad Labem, Dresden, and Berlin to Hamburg, Kiel, and Flensburg is operated by České dráhy in close cooperation with the German carrier Deutsche Bahn. Each of these railway carriers ensures the operation of the joint line on “its” territory. Both the carriers currently operate seven daily pairs of long-distance trains: five pairs of EC Berliner trains (Prague – Berlin – Hamburg / Kiel / Flensburg), one pair of EC 172 / 173 Hungaria trains (Budapest – Prague – Berlin – Hamburg and back) and railjet 256 / 257 Vindobona trains (Graz – Vienna – Prague – Berlin and back). The EC trains between Prague and Berlin usually run every two hours, with a pair of railjet trains departing from Prague in the early evening (at 5:28 p.m.) and from Berlin in the morning (at 5:30 a.m.).
In the period from May 9 to September 15, 2025, České dráhy, in cooperation with DB, will provide a seasonal pair of EC 258 / 259 Berliner train services between Prague and Berlin. In the direction to Germany, the last daily EC service will depart from the Praha hl.n. railway station at 20:28 hours (EC 258) from May 9, arriving at the Berlin Hbf railway station at 00:50 hours. In the opposite direction from Berlin, the EC 259 train will depart for the first time on May 14. It will depart from the Berlin Hbf station at 00:07 hours and will arrive at the Praha hl.n. station at 05:23 hours. These services will stop at the usual locations, i.e. at the Praha-Holešovice, Ústí n. L. hl.n., Děčín hl.n., Bad Schandau, Dresden Hbf, and Dresden-Neustadt stations. In the German capital, the train will also stop at the Berlin Südkreuz station (in the direction from Prague) and Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg (in the direction to Prague). This means that the midnight EC 259 train will be available also to passengers arriving in the evening hours at the Berlin Schönefeld Airport. These trains will run until September 14 and 15, 2025, respectively.
The passengers who are planning a trip to Germany during the summer season should not overlook the changes associated with construction work on the German railway infrastructure. The construction work on the tracks between the Czech-German border and the Bad Schandau railway station will restrict the operation of some Berliner evening trains on selected days in May. From May 10 to 13 and May 17 to 20, the EC 259 train will only run between Děčín and Prague, and on the nights of May 22/23 to May 24/25, the EC 258/259 trains will be replaced by buses between Ústí nad Labem and Dresden. From June 29, the railjet 256 train (Graz – Prague – Berlin) will be shortened to Děčín and will not run on the Děčín – Berlin section until the end of the current timetable in December. In the opposite direction, from June 30, the departure station for the railjet 257 train will be Děčín hl.n.
More significant restrictions on the German railway network will then come into effect from August 1, 2025. In connection with the planned modernisation work activities to be carried out by the German railway infrastructure manager DB InfraGO, the railway line between Berlin and Hamburg will be completely closed for the period of 9 months, i.e. until the end of April 2026. All direct EC long-distance trains from Prague to Hamburg, Kiel, and Flensburg will be shortened due to the railway line closure and will only run in the Prague – Berlin section and back. Passengers traveling to Hamburg will need to transfer to DB long-distance trains, which will run on a diversion route via Stendal and Uelzen.
Travelling to Germany in the summer season with guaranteed seat reservations
In a similar way to last year, during the summer season it will only be possible to travel on the board of the Ex 5 trains on the Prague – Berlin – Hamburg / Kiel / Flensburg line with seat reservations. This measure concerns travels by all daily trains on this line (i.e. EC 170 – 179 services, railjet 256 and 257, and EC 258, 259, 378, and 379 trains) in the time between June 15 and August 31, 2025. Seat reservations are required if passengers are crossing the Czech-German border at Schöna in either direction. Seat reservations are not mandatory on the domestic line section between the Praha hl.n. and Děčín hl.n. railway stations, but ČD recommends that passengers make such reservations in any case.
The reason for introducing mandatory seat reservations on the board of the EC Berliner / Hungaria and railjet Vindobona trains between the Czech Republic and Germany is the expected increase in demand for travelling by these international train services. Thanks to the mandatory reservations, passengers will be guaranteed a seat and individual train services will be used more evenly throughout the day. Reservations made together with the purchase of tickets for these trains are free of charge when purchased online in the e-shop or the My Train app. From mid-June to the end of August, they will also be free of charge for customers who purchase their tickets at ČD international ticket offices.
Passengers can easily check the occupancy of individual train services in the Můj vlak (My Train) app or in the ČD e-shop. Each train is marked with a traffic light indicating the expected occupancy, with green indicating services with lower occupancy, orange indicating services with medium occupancy, and red indicating services with the highest demand. The train details in the mobile app also show the seat reservation plans for individual carriages in the trainset forming the train service operated.
Author: Tiskové oddělení Českých drah
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