Construction work on the railway network: Travelers in Saxony have to be prepared for long waiting times!

Construction work on the railway network: Travelers in Saxony have to be prepared for long waiting times!

The coming weeks will bring big changes for rail customers in Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. You have to prepare for significant restrictions on long-distance traffic caused by extensive construction work on bridges in Thuringia and on the route between Leipzig and Dresden. According to information from diesachsen.de This applies in particular to numerous ICE and IC connections that pass through this region.

Anyone who wants to travel by train between Leipzig and Dresden between June 23rd and 29th, 2025 should be prepared to take detours in the truest sense of the word. The section between Dornreichenbach and Dahlen will be completely closed due to renovation work on the switches. Passengers on the ICE line Wiesbaden-Dresden have to go through a full program because their connection will no longer end in Riesa and Dresden as usual. Replacement buses are available as an alternative, but patient travelers must expect travel times to be extended by up to 90 minutes.

Construction work and test drives

Things will be particularly tricky from June 26th to July 12th, 2025. During this period, trains between Leipzig/Halle and Erfurt will be affected by diversions, with travel times between Leipzig and Munich being extended by up to 60 minutes. In addition, the travel time between Leipzig and Erfurt increases by around 20 minutes. Particularly annoying: direct connections, such as those from Frankfurt/Main to Halle (Saale), are no longer available at all.

Deutsche Bahn has announced extensive construction work to renovate bridges near Großmölsen Ollendorf and Hardisleben-Buttstädt. One reason for replacing old elastomer bearings with new spherical bearings is the lower maintenance effort, such as dubisthalle.de reported. What is interesting is that DB will use this closure to carry out ICE test drives in collaboration with Siemens Mobility in order to gain valuable insights for the further technical development of high-speed trains.

The impact on the timetable

The changes in train services will also affect travel on other routes. The departure and arrival times of trains between Munich and Leipzig will be adjusted and some stops will be eliminated, making travel planning more difficult. For travelers who want to travel from Nuremberg to Leipzig or from Karlsruhe to Stuttgart and on to Nuremberg, this also means significantly longer travel times.

Deutsche Bahn expects a positive development in route demand for 2024. This will be promoted by an expansion of local rail passenger transport and increases in long-distance transport, as in one Report on the company situation is discussed. Nevertheless, the construction activity, especially the general renovation of the Riedbahn, could lead to a loss of sales and contribute to a decline in the number of station stops in the coming year.

It will be exciting to see how these construction sites and changes in train traffic will affect passenger mobility - and whether travelers will value comfort and punctuality again in the future.