FlixTrain is preparing to expand its rail offering in Germany. Like Deutsche Bahn, which regularly updates its timetable, FlixTrain will adjust departure times and broaden its network in December 2023. The changes will be especially noticeable in North Rhine-Westphalia, where another station will be added to the company’s route map.
Beyond its expansion in NRW, FlixTrain also plans to offer two daily services from the region to the Netherlands while adding further stations across Germany. Starting December 10, the company says it will serve around 60 cities in total, with up to eight departures per route each day. A key feature of the offer is a guaranteed seat reservation at no extra cost, along with travel times that FlixTrain says can compete with ICE services.
Although FlixTrain does not operate high-speed trains, it argues that it can still provide competitive journey times by making fewer intermediate stops on major routes such as Hamburg to Berlin. While Deutsche Bahn’s ICE takes just one hour and 44 minutes on the Berlin-Hamburg route, FlixTrain says it can complete the trip in two hours.
Another major element of the timetable change is the addition of new destinations. From December 10, the city of Mülheim an der Ruhr in NRW will join the FlixTrain network. In addition, Bremen, Bensheim, Elsterwerda, Müllheim in Baden, Schönefeld in Berlin, Offenbach, Mainz, Hanau, and Wolfsburg are scheduled to return to the network in 2024.
In response to growing demand for popular destinations such as Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Leipzig, FlixTrain will also increase seating capacity by 25 percent on some routes. Tickets for the new timetable are already available for booking.