Berlin to Paris: many people still decide to fly on this route. Can a fast, direct connection by train change that?

Deutsche Bahn and SNCF are planning a fast direct connection between Berlin and Paris. In addition, the high-speed ICE and TGV trains between Frankfurt and Stuttgart and Paris, which started 15 years ago, are to be expanded, both railways announced in Strasbourg.

There are also talks about other high-speed connections from Germany to southern France. The railway bosses of both countries, DB CEO Richard Lutz, and SNCF President Jean-Pierre Farandou, signed an agreement to expand the connections.

“The high-speed traffic between Germany and France is an outstanding example of how attractive connections promote cross-border traffic on the rails,” said DB boss Lutz. “Our planned new direct connection between the hearts of our two capitals will inspire even more people to travel by train.” It is not yet clear when this train will run.

The connection from Cologne to Paris, on which trains run exclusively by the SNCF subsidiary Thalys, remains excluded from the German-French high-speed traffic. Special tickets are required for these express trains. An integration into the tariff system of DB and SNCF in cross-border traffic is not planned, it said.