EAST of the Rhine, much of the action happened earlier this year with the opening in May of the Nürnberg - Ingolstadt high speed line. Nonetheless, the timetable change on December 10 sees DB recast its long-distance services to take full advantage of the latest addition to the Neubaustrecken network.

New services include two-hourly 200 km/h regional trains calling at the line's intermediate stations at Kinding and Allersberg, but more significant are journey time cuts of up to 30 min on long-distance services linking north and south Germany. ICE3 trainsets can use the new line at 300 km/h, and the fastest Hamburg - München ICE now completes the trip in 5 h 35 min. Frankfurt - München is now possible in 3 h 10 min, and an ICE Sprinter service links Köln with München in 3 h 56 min.

Deutsche Bahn is keen to see a Frankfurt - Mannheim new line built to bridge the gap between the Köln - Frankfurt and Mannheim - Stuttgart Neubaustrecken, but there is no indication that funding for this will be available in the near future.

On the other hand, tangible progress is being made with plans for the Stuttgart - Ulm high speed line which would eliminate the tortuous climb up the Geislinger Steige through the Swabian hills. On October 23 Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee met DB Chairman Hartmut Mehdorn and President of the Land of Baden-Württemberg Günther Oettinger to agree on how the project and its associated scheme for a low-level through station in Stuttgart should proceed. As a result of the meeting, decisions over funding the €4·8bn project are expected to be taken early in 2007. Mehdorn is confident that 'the last hurdles will be overcome early next year so that the start signal can be given for the two projects'.

Work in the Stuttgart area, including construction of the underground station, a link to the new trade fair and Stuttgart airport, is costed at €2·8bn, with the 60 km line from Stuttgart to Ulm absorbing the other €2bn. This will be built for a maximum speed of 250 km/h, permitting ICEs to run between the two cities in just 28 min.