One of Germany’s busiest rail corridors was recently closed for six months as Deutsche Bahn carried out refurbishments. Here’s how recent upgrades have impacted traffic between Frankfurt and Mannheim and elsewhere in the country.
Three months after the start of rail traffic on the refurbished Riedbahn railway between Frankfurt and Mannheim, Deutsche Bahn has reported improved punctuality and fewer disruptions on the line.
Speaking in Berlin, the company announced that the regional RE70 train that traverses the route and local S-Bahn trains had been 20 percent more punctual in February 2025 than they were the year before.
In early 2024, just 60 percent of regional and local trains arrived at their destinations time. This has risen to 80 percent in 2025. However, the figure is still below the nationwide punctuality rate for local transport, which Deutsche Bahn puts at 90.9 percent for February.
According to DB, “infrastructure-related” disruptions on the line have also fallen by 27 percent since the renovations – and by as much as 50 percent on some weekdays.
In addition, according to Philipp Nagl, CEO of the railway infrastructure company InfraGo, more trains travelled on the line each day in February – 345 instead of 329 in the same month last year.
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“Three months after completing our pilot project for the general refurbishment, we are very satisfied with the development,” explained Nagl. “We have succeeded in significantly improving the quality of the facilities on the line – and the punctuality figures are also on the right track.”
The Riedbahn is one of Germany’s busiest stretches of railway track, with around one in seven long-distance train journeys passing on the route between Frankfurt/Main and Mannheim. Though intercity trains don’t stop at stations between the two cities, the track is often used to gather speed and make up for previous delays.
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On the other hand, issues on the route can have a knock-on affect on national traffic and cause delays as far afield as Hamburg and Stuttgart.
According to Deutsche Bahn, trains running behind schedule can compensate for delays by up to a third on the Riedbahn – and this is likely to improve in spring.
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In the second quarter of the year, the new European Train Control System (ETCS) will be fully operational in Germany, meaning trains can gather speeds of up to 200km per hour.
Room for improvement
As part of a wider project to get Germany’s railways up to standard, the Riedbahn was closed for six months for a general refurbishment last year.
Between July and December, the company poured €1.3 billion into sweeping upgrades and improvements, including 140 kilometres of overhead lines, 120 kilometres of tracks and the latest signal box technology.
Punctuality has since been moving in the right direction, but the high-traffic route is still facing a number of issues.
One of these is a lack of staff at the signal boxes, which continues to slow down services. Another is the knock-on effect of delays on other parts of the railway network that still suffer from bottlenecks.
An employee of DB Netze Korridor Riedbahn supervises renovations. The Riedbahn line between Frankfurt am Main and Mannheim is to be completely renovated starting from Monday, July 15th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Andreas Arnold
Despite the general refurbishment, the track’s relatively low capacity means Deutsche Bahn can only run a limited regional and local service – at least for now.
“Theoretically, more local trains could run on the Riedbahn,” said Nagl. “However, this is currently not possible because long-distance and freight trains are still travelling there.”
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That could all change with the addition of a new high-speed rail line, which is due to come into operation after 2030. Once this alternative line is in use, it can become the primary route for long-distance traffic, while regional and freight trains can continue to use the Riedbahn.
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According to draft plans released by the CDU/CSU and SPD, a project to modernise Germany’s huge swathes of the rail track will continue under the next government. These investments will be paid for using part of the country’s new €500 billion infrastructure fund.
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Under the former traffic-light coalition, Deutsche Bahn set about refurbishing 41 busy corridors to try and improve its long-running issues with punctuality — to be completed by 2030.
The next phase of the project will be sprucing up the Berlin to Hamburg line, with closures starting in August and running into April next year.
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