German new Munich-Berlin rail link sees strong demand: national railway firm

BERLIN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The German National Railway Company (Deutsche Bahn) has already been experiencing strong demand for its new Berlin-Munich link, the company told press on Tuesday.

Around 1.2 million customers were recorded within the first 100 days of opening the high-speed connection between the two major urban centers in the southeast and the northeast of the country. As a consequence, demand had more than doubled for the route compared to the same period last year when the high-speed service (officially under four hours) was not yet available.

Deutsche Bahn is currently using six daily ICE-Sprinter trains on the route (leaving Berlin and Munich respectively at 6 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m.) and plans to add another four daily connections from December onwards.

Overall, ICE sprinter trains in Germany have an occupancy rate of 70 percent on average, showcasing the popularity of the high-speed connections among business and regular passengers in Germany.

Speaking to press on Tuesday, Deutsche Bank further highlighted that the punctuality ratio of the new Munich-Berlin was now above the national average of 80.4 percent.

Initially, the railway company had experienced logistical difficulties at the start of the route, leading to criticism that the advertised travel time of under four hours was inaccurate. Enditem