Germany is gearing up to welcome visitors as soon as current travel restrictions, due to Covid,are relaxed.The German National Tourist will announce a new promotional campaign shortly.
Germany is the second-most popular destination market for Europeans for 10th year in a row and was the top cultural travel destination for European outbound travel worldwide in 2019.
DB-German Railways is also looking forward to returning to regular business .They want all travelers to arrive at their destination in comfort while staying safe. To achieve this goal, they have started an initiative to raise standards in hygiene and cleanliness.
They are also planning a new rail link from Dresden to the Baltic Coast.
DB has established a comprehensive catalogue of coordinated measures to protect customers and employees:
Hygiene
Long-distance trains are cleaned at maintenance facilities upon deployment and every two hours during regular operations. DB Regio trains are cleaned three times a day on average with shorter cleaning intervals on intensively-used routes.
For cleaning procedures during regular operations, we put strong emphasis on keeping toilets and contact surfaces, such as grips and handrails at entrance areas, sanitary. We refill soap and disinfectant dispensers on a regular basis. By July, we aim to double the number of employees cleaning IC and ICE trains during regular operations. Starting from a solid foundation of 500 mobile cleaners in July, DB intends to increase this number to 600 by September. In addition, DB employees at stations clean door handles, handrails, and consoles of ticket and snack vending machines at a high frequency.
At Germany’s 20 biggest stations, customers can wash their hands for free at local restrooms. Furthermore, 180 stations and 150 service stores will provide free disinfectant from dispensers. Markers on the ground at DB info points and travel centers help customers keep their appropriate safety distance.
Face masks / on-board bistro
Travelers and DB employees are obligated to wear face masks on long-distance- and regional trains. We recommend our customers use masks also at stations, stops, and on platforms. Please note that it is important to wash hands thoroughly before putting on and
taking off masks and to avoid touching anything but the straps. Customers can buy single- use masks – which are subject to availability – at the on-board bistro of our long-distance trains for EUR 1.50. Our bistros on long-distance trains remain open and still sell the regular selection of food and drinks in single-use packaging. Use of contactless payment options is recommended.
Ticket inspection
Until further notice, train attendants will check tickets only at a safe distance.
In addition, on-board announcements tell customers to use all the available doors for boarding and departure in order to optimize the adherence to safety distance regulations.
Return to regular operations
Starting from the beginning of June and under the premise of constant reevaluation, DB is slowly returning to the regular number of national and cross-border long-distance connections:
Domestically, we put a strong focus on city-to-city ICE connections depending on the increase in demand: Munich-Dortmund via Nuremberg, Frankfurt, and Cologne; Munich- Dortmund via Stuttgart and Cologne; Basel-Dortmund via Karlsruhe and Cologne. ICE sprinter trains between Munich and Berlin will be returning as well.
Trains between Germany and Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark and Czech Republic are already operating. The number of daily return trips will be increased stepwise in June with traffic to resume to Poland as well.
