Additional buses strengthen commuter traffic between Wittenberge and Stendal!

Additional buses strengthen commuter traffic between Wittenberge and Stendal!

There is currently a lot of movement in terms of rail transport in the Brandenburg region. From August 1st, numerous additional bus connections will strengthen the existing rail replacement services between Wittenberge and Stendal. This was recently announced by Brandenburg's Transport Minister Detlef Tabbert and representatives of Deutsche Bahn, VBB, the city of Wittenberge and district administrators Ralf Reinhardt and Christian Müller. The background to these expanded services is the extensive construction work on the Berlin – Hamburg railway line, which has been in full swing since August 16, 2024.

The construction work includes the renewal of over 70 kilometers of tracks and 100 switches, with extensive changes taking place particularly between Wittenberge and Karstädt. The trains to Wismar, Schwerin or Hamburg have stopped running since then and have turned Wittenberge into a dead end in rail traffic. In order not to let commuters down, replacement buses now run every hour between Wittenberge and Karstädt.

Improved commuter connections

The additional bus trips are primarily intended to support commuters by noticeably reducing travel times on important commuter routes. These bus connections are planned in the morning and afternoon hours and offer regional connections, for example to the RE4 from Stendal to Berlin. Deutsche Bahn and the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt bear the costs for this additional offer, which is in the six-figure range, in order to meet the needs of commuters.

The frustrations of commuters are clear. One commuter, Wolfgang, expressed his concern about the significantly longer travel times, reported four and a half hours for his daily commute to Berlin and called for sustainable investment in the railway lines. If you consider that the journey with the replacement bus from Wittenberge to Karstädt now takes around 40 minutes instead of the usual eight minutes, the discomfort becomes understandable. The new measures are therefore not only practical, but also urgently needed to regain passengers' trust.

Controls and quality assurance

In order to keep an eye on the quality of rail replacement traffic, the VBB carries out over 6,000 quality controls in regional traffic every year, which also affect replacement traffic. Particular attention is paid to signage, adherence to timetables and punctuality. From the beginning of August, in line with the new school year, a special focus will be placed on controls for replacement traffic so that commuters continue to be well informed and travel times remain as short as possible.

Thanks to the new information on the “bahn.de aktuell” platform, passengers are now also provided with important data on possible disruptions and delays. With features such as the interactive disruption map and the delay alarm, travelers can plan their journeys better and always know what is going on on their route.

The coming months will show whether the measures to improve traffic flow in the region are successful and whether commuters in Prignitz can soon count on a more reliable connection again. The construction work is scheduled to last until December 14, 2024 and the hope is that everything will run a little more smoothly after that.