Commissioning committee: S-Bahn cuts from December 2025 endanger mobility!

Commissioning committee: S-Bahn cuts from December 2025 endanger mobility!

From December 2025, commuters in Saxony-Anhalt face major changes in the S-Bahn network. The necessary adjustments are a reaction to increased costs and a lack of funds in local transport. Especially commuters from the south of Saxony-Anhalt must adapt to considerable restrictions, such as Sachsen-Anhalt/sbahn-kuerzungen-aungen-dezember-2025-pendler-4072379"> Volksstimme reports.

The most affected lines affect the area around Halle, Bitterfeld and Leipzig/Halle Airport. The Halle connection - Leipzig remains, but not all lines and trips are continued. From December, the S2 will only drive from Bitterfeld via Delitzsch and the Leipzig trade fair to Leipzig-Connewitz. For commuters from Bitterfeld, this means longer switching times. In Borna, the evening 30-minute cycle is also reduced to an hourly time.

changed clocks and timetables

The S3 is preserved, but is extended to Geithain, which leads to changing travel times for passengers from Halle. The connection Halle - Leipzig/Halle Airport remains with the lines S5 and S5X, but changes can also occur here in the departure times. The new timetables have already led to protests in Markkleeberg, Borna and in the southern room in Leipzig. A petition entitled "No clear cut in the S-Bahn network of Markkleeberg and Borna" has started and has already collected thousands of signatures.

causes and solutions

The reductions are not isolated, but reflect a nationwide problem. In several federal states, including Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, cuts in local public transport are also checked due to financial bottlenecks. In Schleswig-Holstein, among other things, amplifier trains and connections are eliminated in marginal times. State Transport Minister Claus Ruhe Madsen expressed that these cancellations were painful, but they only concerned a small percentage of all connections, such as Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.

The increase in costs, especially for personnel and material, also tightened the situation. From 2014, the costs per pull kilometer rose by over 250 percent, while the income from ticket sales has decreased significantly, especially since the introduction of the Germany ticket. This means that more than 6,300 passengers in Markkleeberg are affected by the new timetables. The initiators of the petition require a withdrawal of the planned cuts and an adaptation of the clocks in the Südraid Leipzig.

From December 2026, modern Siemens Mireo vehicles are to be used, and the complete implementation of the new MDSB2025PLUS network is also intended for this date. In the long term, depending on the financial framework, the offer could be expanded. However, these uncertainties make the future of local public transport no less dangerous.