Upgrading and electrification on the Zürich - München corridor is set to cut timings by 40 min from 2016 to around 3 h 30 min, with the number of services `almost doubled'; there are currently four return EuroCity trains a day. Opening of the Gotthard base tunnel is expected to give a Stuttgart - Lugano timing of under 5 h in 2018, while infrastructure upgrades in southern Germany will trim 30 min off the current 3 h timing between Basel and Frankfurt by 2022. A previous attempt to improve services between the two countries and Austria, branded as TEE Rail Alliance, was launched in 2000, but came to nothing.
Upgrading and electrification on the Zürich - München corridor is set to cut timings by 40 min from 2016 to around 3 h 30 min, with the number of services `almost doubled'; there are currently four return EuroCity trains a day.
Opening of the Gotthard base tunnel is expected to give a Stuttgart - Lugano timing of under 5 h in 2018, while infrastructure upgrades in southern Germany will trim 30 min off the current 3 h timing between Basel and Frankfurt by 2022.
A previous attempt to improve services between the two countries and Austria, branded as TEE Rail Alliance, was launched in 2000, but came to nothing.
EUROPE: 'This autumn we will send an ICE3 test train through the tunnel beneath the English Channel as part of our preparations for possible train service to London', Deutsche Bahn Chairman & CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube said during his presentation of the German national rail company's half-year results on July 28. Grube said DB is also in talks with SNCF to launch a passenger service from Frankfurt to Lyon and Marseille from 2012, and will organise a Swiss-German rail summit in the second half of this year to build on the July 9 memorandum of understanding to expand cross-border traffic in partnership with SBB.
EUROPE: 'This autumn we will send an ICE3 test train through the tunnel beneath the English Channel as part of our preparations for possible train service to London', Deutsche Bahn Chairman & CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube said during his presentation of the German national rail company's half-year results on July 28.
Grube said DB is also in talks with SNCF to launch a passenger service from Frankfurt to Lyon and Marseille from 2012, and will organise a Swiss-German rail summit in the second half of this year to build on the July 9 memorandum of understanding to expand cross-border traffic in partnership with SBB.
