INNOTRANS: For the first time, the ICE will travel directly from Berlin to Paris. From December 16, the two capitals will be directly connected at high speed.
Michael Peterson, DB Board Member for Long-Distance Passenger Transport, and Alain Krakovitch, Director of TGV-INTERCITÉS at SNCF Voyageurs, presented the details of the new connection today at the InnoTrans 2024 trade fair in Berlin.
The trains, operated in cooperation by Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the French railway company SNCF Voyageurs, travel via Frankfurt South, Karlsruhe and Strasbourg.
This will also be the first direct daytime connection between Berlin and the Alsatian metropolis, the headquarters of the European Parliament. Tickets with included seat reservation for the journey from Berlin to Paris are available from 59.99 euros in 2nd class and 69.99 euros in 1st class via bahn.de, the DB Navigator app and in DB travel centers and DB agencies.
Sales start at DB and SNCF Voyageurs on October 16. The ICE connects the city centers of Berlin and Paris. The journey takes eight hours. The expansion of international transport services is a central component of DB’s Strong Rail strategy.
“SNCF Voyageurs and DB are sending a strong signal for Europe’s integration by rail. The new ICE connection will give a further boost to the booming international long-distance traffic. We will continue to work with our cooperation partners to enable more and better international rail connections. This is the only way Europe can achieve its climate goals,” said Michael Peterson.
“This new connection is further proof of the Franco-German friendship and contributes to a common goal of our two countries: more CO2-free mobility. For SNCF Voyageurs, this connection is part of our ambitions: we are present in long-distance transport in Spain, Italy, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria and believe in growth in Europe. This summer, more than 20 percent of our customers traveled on our cross-border or intra-European services,” says Alain Krakovitch.
ICE from Berlin to Paris schedule
The ICE departs Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 11:54 a.m. and arrives 
in Paris Est at 7:55 p.m. (Frankfurt/Main Süd at 3:52 p.m., Karlsruhe Hbf at 5:06 p.m. and Strasbourg at 5:53 p.m.). It departs the French capital at 9:55 a.m. and arrives in Berlin at 6:03 p.m. (Strasbourg at 11:40 a.m., Karlsruhe Hbf at 12:34 p.m., Frankfurt/Main Süd at 2:04 p.m.).
The train is a Class 407 ICE 3, which has already proven itself in high-speed traffic between Germany and France. The train has 444 seats, 111 of which are in first class, and reaches a top speed of 320 kilometers per hour on the French LGV Est high-speed line.
Since 2007, SNCF Voyageurs and DB have been working together to offer high-speed ICE and TGV services between Germany and France. Since then, over 32 million travelers have used the international connections Frankfurt/Main–Paris, (Munich–)Stuttgart–Paris and Frankfurt/Main–Marseille.
In the summer, direct trains between Frankfurt/Main and Bordeaux are added on Saturdays. With the direct ICE Berlin–Paris, the number of daily connections between Germany and France increases from 24 to 26. This corresponds to over 320,000 additional seats per year.
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