Huge increase in cross-border traffic as Germany's national railway expands services

German railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) has seen international long-distance traffic grow faster than ever before in recent months. The company reported that bookings in the first quarter of 2023 were 40 percent higher than in the same period in 2019, the previous record year. In 2022, almost 7 percent more people travelled to neighbouring European countries by train than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, meaning that more than 16 percent of long-distance DB passengers travelled internationally last year. In 2019, that proportion was 13 percent. Since 2016, Germany's national railway has expanded its international offer with 20 percent more seats, new trains, more connections and additional direct connections. The number of travellers in international traffic has increased by 35 percent in the same period. DB has attracted more customers by promoting climate friendliness and attractive travel times, noting that almost nine out of 10 travellers between Stuttgart and Paris, for example, take the train and not the plane.

DB last year said it would invest a record €13.6 billion in improving its network in order to encourage travellers to take more climate-friendly journeys.DB is also introducing new offers in 2023: From July, French high-speed rail service TGV will connect Frankfurt and Bordeaux on eight summer weekends. In December, DB is introducing new Intercity Express (ICE) trains on the Frankfurt-Munich-Salzburg-Klagenfurt line. A new night train will also connect Berlin and Paris three times a week in combination with trains between Vienna and Brussels.