Munich – New Year, new schedule: Deutsche Bahn (DB) has announced the changes to its long-distance services for the turn of the year. The new schedule has been available for booking since Wednesday, October 15th. From Munich’s perspective, there are many innovations—though not all of them are necessarily positive. What will change for connections to and from the Bavarian capital when the new timetable takes effect on December 14th?
Rail Company Announces Schedule Change for 2026: More Long-Distance Connections to and from Munich
First, the offering of cross-border long-distance connections to and from Munich is growing. According to DB, trains will now run once daily from the Bavarian capital via Villach (Austria) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) to Zagreb (Croatia). The Eurocity (EC) departs from Munich at 10:16 AM.
The connection from Munich via Villach and Klagenfurt to Graz is being expanded with five additional services. This means there will be nine daily trains on this route in the future, running “almost every two hours.”
The ICE from Munich to Amsterdam via Augsburg will now depart two hours earlier. Departure from the Bavarian capital is at 2:20 PM, with arrival in the Dutch capital at 9:29 PM.
A new direct overnight train to Przemyśl, Poland (near the Ukrainian border), with sleeping, couchette, and seated cars, will also depart from Munich Central Station at 6:35 PM. This complements the existing overnight service to Warsaw, according to DB.
“Particularly Fast ICE Trains” from Munich to Berlin – Also Adjustments for Hamburg and Cologne
From the schedule change onwards, there will be more frequent and faster services to the German capital. DB states that “particularly fast ICE trains” will run hourly—16 times a day, three times more than before—covering the route between Munich and Berlin via Nuremberg, Erfurt, and Halle in “around four hours.”
Adjustments are also being made on two other domestic German routes. On the hourly Munich–Nuremberg–Würzburg–Hanover–Hamburg line, standardized 12-part ICE 4 trains with 830 seats will be used. DB expects improvements here, as the previous bi-hourly and delay-prone splitting/joining of trains in Hanover for services to/from Bremen, and the once-daily variations to destinations like Dortmund or Passau/Vienna, will be discontinued.
On the hourly ICE connection Munich–Nuremberg–Aschaffenburg–Frankfurt–Cologne–Essen, the current once-daily coupling and uncoupling of a train section in Würzburg for services via Kassel to/from Paderborn and Hamm will be discontinued. According to DB, this means the corresponding direct connection will no longer exist. However, this measure “also brings more stability to the schedule.”
DB is also closing a service gap: With a new departure from Munich at 12:20 PM, a consistent two-hourly service is created for direct connections via Augsburg, Stuttgart, and Frankfurt Airport to the Rhine/Ruhr region, arriving at 5:40 PM. The first service on this line to Munich (arriving at 9:40 AM) will now originate from Cologne (departing at 5:25 AM), instead of the current off-schedule departure from Frankfurt.
Trains to Run Half-Hourly Between Munich and Nuremberg
In the future, ICE services will run nearly every half hour from Munich to Nuremberg and Erfurt. Trains will run twice per hour between Erfurt and Nuremberg, taking 75 minutes, with onward connections to Munich. DB states this is made possible by additional services and adjusted departure times.
Consequently, various bi-hourly connecting journeys will be around 30 minutes faster: Munich–Dresden will take 4 hours 15 minutes, Passau–Berlin 4 hours 45 minutes, and Ansbach–Berlin 3 hours 30 minutes. An ICE half-hourly service will also continue to operate from Munich and Nuremberg to Würzburg.
One Route To and From Munich Discontinued Due to Construction
DB also announced some bad news: Due to construction work, both Sprinter train pairs (round trips) on the Düsseldorf–Nuremberg–Munich route will be discontinued for the entire schedule period. This is likely related to the months-long work starting in February 2026 between Nuremberg and Regensburg, which will necessitate a line closure.
However, DB recently shared some particularly good news for passengers: It will not adjust long-distance ticket prices for this schedule change.
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