New high-speed train will make travelling between cities in Europe even easier

Rail passengers will be able to get from Berlin to Paris and back much more easily once a new direct high-speed rail service is launched on TGVs by SNCF from next year

Two of Europe’s major cities are set to be linked by a high speed rail service.

A direct line from Berlin to Paris could begin ferrying passengers as early as December 2023, the French rail operator SNCF has said.

At the moment people wanting to make the journey have to change train at least once, in either Frankfurt, Stuttgart or Mannheim.

The route, on TGVs, will take seven hours once it is established, a length of time SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou believes will not deter travellers.

“It makes sense because we see that people are accepting longer and longer journeys. There are really people who are willing to spend five hours, six hours, seven hours on a train,” he told AFP.

SNCF’s Alain Krakovitch said the demand for high-speed rail travel is showing no signs of slowing down in Europe and pointed to the success of the Paris-Milan and Paris-Barcelona high-speed links as motivation to connect Paris with more European cities.

He expressed hopes that the services from Paris to Berlin would be full, as those from the French capital to Italy and Spain have been so far.

The plans are the latest to expand high speed rail journeys in Europe.

Eurostar is joining forces with French-Belgian operator Thalys to link London with cities in Germany.

EuroNight service from Swedish operator SJ is set to launch this September, joining up more distances with overnight, long distance train services.

Stockholm and Hamburg will be connected via a stop in Copenhagen.

Once that is running, British passengers will be able to travel from London to Brussels, on to Hamburg and then catch the final link to Stockholm. The journey should take just over 24 hours to complete.

News of expansion on European rail lines comes ahead of a planned strike on many of the UK’s lines, beginning next week.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 13 train operators will walk out on June 21, 23 and 25.

The RMT also announced another 24-hour strike on London Underground in a separate row over jobs and pensions.

Tube workers will strike on June 21 to coincide with the first rail strike, threatening widespread travel chaos.