Full speed ahead! Amsterdam to Berlin train will be even faster by December 2023

Christmas came early for holidayers planning on getting the train from Amsterdam to Berlin next year — and what did Sinterklaas bring? An even faster train! 

The 6 hours and 20 minute train trip from Amsterdam Centraal to Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Central Station) will soon be shortened by a sweet half-an-hour, AT5 reports. 

This will bring the journey time down to 5 hours and 50 minutes — oh, and did we mention you’ll be in Berlin?!

Ahead of schedule

The proposed faster journey was not due to be finalised until 2026, but thanks to a number of changes in the original plan, the train route is set to be updated by December 2023. 

Good news for any travellers planning on spending a Christmas full of markets, musicals, ice skating, and a more alt-vibe. 🎄

berlin-christmas-market
In less than six hours, you could enjoy the Christmas Markets in Berlin! Image: Pexels

In order to stay ahead of schedule, a number of adjustments are being made at Oldenzaal station, the final station before you reach the German border. 

There, a new track is being built, and special trains will be used to allow the train to continue on towards Berlin smoothly.

There will also be multi-court trains, which will allow the trains to run on both the voltages of the Netherlands and Germany. Before, the train had to be changed in Bad Bentheim in order to allow the journey to continue. 

Put simply: we can enjoy a shorter and easier trip to Berlin — thanks, guys. 

Internation travel from Amsterdam

The train to Berlin is not the only option for passengers seeking to escape the busy city, as international trains from Amsterdam Centraal connect travellers to countries across the continent! 

Sit back, relax, and even take your shoes off (we’ll only judge slightly), and don’t forget; there are no extra fees for baggage on trains! 👜

If booked through NS International, you can travel to Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, and more! 

READ MORE | From Amsterdam to Paris: the best ways to get there

Or, if you were looking to head south, you could book with Thalys and have your own “Emily in Paris” experience for the weekend. 

Would you take the train from Amsterdam to Berlin? Tell us what you think! 

Feature Image:Deposit Photos
Heather Slevin
Heather Slevin
Heather is a Dublin native, addicted to catching the Luas, the Irish version of a tram, for one stop, and well used to the constant rain and shine. Seeking to swap one concrete city for another (with a few more canals and a friendlier attitude to cyclists) here she is with the Dutch Review! As a Creative Writing student, she can usually be found sweating over the complicated formatting of her latest poem or deep inside the pages of a book, and loves writing, writing, writing.

2 COMMENTS

  1. “special trains will be used”. “before, the train had to be changed” No it hadn’t. the carriage you board in Amsterdam has always gone all the way to Berlin. The only thing that happened in Bad Bentheim is that they changed the NS loco pulling the train for a DB one. Now it’s apparently going to be a multi-system loco and those have been in existence for a few decades now. They could have done this years ago….

  2. Still it takes me 2x the time door to door vs flying. Why does this train stop in so many smaller towns in Eastern Netherlands?

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