Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway

The line consists of five sections: upgraded line between Hanover and Lehrte (for operations up to 160 km/h or 100 mph) and between Lehrte and Wolfsburg (200 km/h or 125 mph), the new and upgraded line between Wolfsburg and Oebisfelde (68 km or 42 mi altogether); the 148-kilometre-long (92 mi) new line between Oebisfelde and Staaken (250 km/h or 160 mph) and the connection between Staaken and the Berlin Stadtbahn and Berlin station (60 to 160 km/h or 40 to 100 mph).

Due to its flat profile the line has few structures, apart from a cut-and-cover tunnel under the Elbe Lateral Canal (c. 1975) and four large bridges over the Mittelland Canal, the Elbe, the Havel and the Havel Canal. The line was the first German line which was mostly constructed with slab (ballast-less) track.

• Berlin Hauptbahnhof
• Berlin-Spandau
• Stendal
• Wolfsburg
• Hannover Hauptbahnhof

In the 1980s planning began on an improved line for ICE trains for transit traffic (people who were allowed to transit, but did not have a visa to visit East Germany) between West Germany and West Berlin. In September 1988, the governments of West Germany and East Germany began negotiations in relation to the development of the Lehrterbahn for speeds up to 200 km/h (125 mph).[2]

Options available were:

• Northern route via Wolfsburg and Stendal to the old Lehrte railway
• Southern route via Magdeburg and Potsdam to the Berlin-Potsdam-Magdeburg railway

In 1990 the northern route was chosen; it was the shortest and fastest connection between Berlin and Hanover and was used by the long-distance high-speed trains before World War II. The option that was favored had the transit tracks parallel with, but separately from, the existing tracks of the Lehrterbahn, which would remain available for internal East German traffic. The existing line would be used from Wolfsburg to Hanover as an upgraded line. The new and upgraded line was intended for passenger traffic and the original line for goods traffic. At several points the new and original lines were to be interconnected, including Rathenow and Stendal.

On 28 June 1990 the transport ministers of the two still separate Germans States, Horst Gibtner and Friedrich Zimmermann signed an agreement to build a high-speed line along the existing Lehrtebahn, following two years of negotiations.[3]

It was originally planned that the high-speed line would be used by an hourly IC/ICE line between Hanover and/or Braunschweig and Berlin. As a result of the expected increase of traffic due to German reunification four lines had been adopted by 1991:

• Berlin–Hannover–Ruhr Area
• Berlin–Hannover–Bremen
• Berlin–Wolfsburg–Braunschweig–Kassel–Frankfurt
• Berlin–Stendal–Salzwedel–Uelzen–Hamburg

Taking into regional, suburban and freight trains, planning was based on 200 trains each day (in both directions) between Berlin and Stendal for the high-speed and original routes. In consequence, it was decided that the design speed for the high-speed line would be 250 km/h (155 mph), the original line would be developed for a design speed of 160 km/h (100 mph) instead of 120 km/h (75 mph) and earthworks and structures on the largely single-track original route between Staaken and Stendal would make provision for a second track.[3]

Separation of the high speed line (right) from the Berlin-Hamburg line near Spandau

Building began on 11 November 1992 with the beginning of work on the 812-metre-long (2,664 ft) Elbe bridge at Hämerten. Parallel to the building of the new line, Lehrterbahn was reorganised. At the same time construction commenced at Berlin Spandau long-distance station and on the Weddel loop line, a 21-kilometre-long (13 mi) connection between Fallersleben (near Wolfsburg) and Weddel (near Braunschweig).

The 16.7 Hz traction current line between Oebisfelde and Rathenow, which was brought into service on 14 March 1995, was the first traction current connection established between west and east Germany. The last viaduct was finished in October 1997 with the bridge over the Havel Canal.

During the building phase, archaeologists carried out approximately 4,000 digs in Brandenburg and made discoveries in 30 places, including finds of some objects that were over 1,500 years old.

Numerous test and acceptance runs were made with ICE S trains at up to 331 km/h (206 mph) between April and August 1998. Services commenced on 24 May 1998 on the Vorsfelde-Stendal section. On 15 September 1998 the whole line was officially opened.

In 2005 long-planned changes began on the eastern side of Lehrte station. On 15 January 2007 two new bridges were opened as a flying junction in Lehrte, overcoming congestion at the junction. When work on points is completed in 2008, the running speed of the main line will be raised from 60 to 120 km/h (75 mph). The Federal government plans to invest € 376 million for upgrades between Hanover and Lehrte between 2006 and 2010.[4]

Several ICE/IClines run across the line:

• ICE:: Berlin−Hannover−Hamm−Essen−Düsseldorf−Cologne or Hamm−Wuppertal− Cologne. This line is operated hourly by ICE 2 trains that are divided into two trains at Hamm.
• ICE: Berlin−Braunschweig−Kassel−Wilhelmshöhe−Frankfurt− Mannheim−Basel or Mannheim−Stuttgart−Munich. It operates to Mannheim each hour, then alternating every two hours to Basel or Munich. This line also runs over the Hanover-Würzburg high-speed line and uses ICE 1s.
• IC: Berlin− Hannover−Osnabrück−Münster or Osnabrück−Bad Bentheim−Amsterdam every two hours, branching every four hours in Osnabrück.

• High-speed rail in Germany

• Erich Preuß: Die Schnellbahn Hannover–Berlin. Geramond-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-932785-31-2. (in German)
• Jürgen Hörstel: Hannover–Berlin. Geschichte und Bau einer Schnellbahnverbindung. Transpress-Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-613-71088-9 (in German)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hanover–Berlin high-speed railway.

• Deutsche Bahn Information brochure (PDF, 20 pages, 3 MB) (in German)