Additional buses strengthen commuter traffic between Wittenberge and Stendal!

Additional buses strengthen commuter traffic between Wittenberge and Stendal!

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

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

improved commuters

The additional bus journeys should primarily support commuters by noticeably reducing the travel times on important commuter relations. These bus connections are planned in the morning and afternoon hours and offer regional connections, for example for 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 moving in the six-figure area to meet the requirements of the commuter.

The frustrations of the commuters are clear. A commuter, Wolfgang, expressed his concern about the significantly extended travel times, reports four and a half hours for his daily way to work to Berlin and demands a sustainable investment in the railway lines. If you consider that the trip from Wittenberge to Karstädt takes around 40 minutes instead of the usual eight minutes, the discomfort is understandable. The new measures are therefore not only practical, but also urgently necessary to regain the trust of passengers.

controls and quality assurance

In order to keep an eye on the quality of the rail replacement traffic, VBB carries out over 6000 quality controls in regional traffic, which also affect replacement traffic. The signage, compliance with timetables and punctuality are particularly important. From the beginning of August, in line with the new school year, a special focus will be on the controls for replacement traffic so that commuters are still well informed and travel times remain as short as possible.

Thanks to the new information on the "Bahn.de current" platform, passengers are now also supplied with important data on possible disorders and delays. With functions such as the interactive fault card and the delay alarm, travelers can better plan their trips and always know what is going on on their route.

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