When is the Berlin timetable change?

On Sunday 13 December 2026. The new VBB fares follow on 1 January 2027, so the two changes come three weeks apart.

Do regional trains run on the Stadtbahn again?

Yes. The works between Charlottenburg and Ostbahnhof end on 12 December 2026, and from the 13th the RE1 and RE7 cross the centre again. The RB23 is the exception: it runs only between Golm and Potsdam-Griebnitzsee throughout 2027.

Which lines get more trains in December?

The RE3 runs hourly every day from Stralsund to Lutherstadt Wittenberg, the RE5 runs hourly along its whole line with the last Berlin to Neustrelitz trains until 23:00 every day, and the new RE9 runs between Angermünde and Berlin Hbf.

What changes on the S1 and S5?

From 13 December the rush hour drops from a train every 5 minutes to a 5, 5, 10 minute pattern on the S1 between Zehlendorf and Potsdamer Platz and on the S5 between Mahlsdorf and Warschauer Straße.

Why does the RE4 stop at Wustermark?

The Lehrter Bahn towards Rathenow and Stendal is being rebuilt until December 2027. The RE4 runs only between Wustermark and Falkenberg (Elster) until about July 2027, then to Nennhausen, and Berlin-Spandau station also closes for the works from 16 October 2027.

How much does a Berlin ticket cost from January 2027?

The AB single stays at 4.00 euros. The 4-trip card AB rises to 13.20 euros, the 24-hour ticket AB to 11.50, the VBB-Umweltkarte AB to 117.20 for one month or 84.30 a month on a subscription, and the Deutschlandticket to 66.80 euros.

Can I still use tickets bought at the old price?

Yes. Single tickets and 4-trip cards bought before 1 January 2027 at the old price stay valid until 30 June 2027, or you can hand them in for a refund. Tickets with a printed date keep their printed validity.

Berlin Timetable Change: What Moves on 13 December and What Costs More on 1 January

Yusuf Ucuz

Oct 20

6 min read

Since June, the regional platforms at Friedrichstraße have been strangely quiet. The S-Bahn still rattles through every few minutes, but the RE1 to Frankfurt (Oder) and the RE7 to Senftenberg have been turning back at Charlottenburg and Ostbahnhof, and anyone commuting to Potsdam, Erkner or the BER corridor has learned to change trains in places they never used to.

That ends on Sunday 13 December 2026, the day of the Berlin timetable change. Three weeks later, on 1 January 2027, the new VBB fares start. Most people in Berlin notice both only when a train is missing or a ticket machine shows a new price. A few minutes now saves you that moment.

An S-Bahn train streaks along the yellow-brick Stadtbahn viaduct at dusk, with the TV Tower lit up behind it

The Stadtbahn viaduct near Alexanderplatz. From 13 December regional trains share it with the S-Bahn again.

The two dates in the Berlin timetable change

The change comes in two steps, and they ask different things of you:

13 December 2026: new timetable. Regional lines change their routes and frequencies, a new line starts, two S-Bahn lines lose trains in the rush hour, and the Stadtbahn works end.
1 January 2027: new fares. Prices across the VBB rise by 3.72 percent on average, and the Deutschlandticket goes from 63 to 66.80 euros a month.
30 June 2027: last day for old tickets. Single tickets and 4-trip cards bought before January at the old price stay valid until then, or you can ask for a refund.

The VBB announced the timetable on 8 October. One practical catch: the journey planners do not show trains after 12 December yet. On 20 October the VBB journey planner still refused any date after 12 December. Until that changes, the press release is the best map of what is coming.

A departure board on the regional platform at Friedrichstraße showing an RE1 to Frankfurt (Oder) and a cancelled RE7 stop

The regional platform at Friedrichstraße. Since June the RE1 and RE7 have not stopped here; from 13 December they are back.

The Stadtbahn gets its regional trains back

The biggest win of the winter is in the middle of the city. The works on the Stadtbahn between Charlottenburg and Ostbahnhof end on 12 December, and regional trains cross the centre again from the 13th.

RE1 runs through Zoologischer Garten, Hauptbahnhof, Friedrichstraße and Alexanderplatz again. East of Erkner, longer trains with up to 800 seats now stop at Hangelsberg, Berkenbrück, Jacobsdorf and Pillgram, and there is an hourly direct train to Eisenhüttenstadt in the rush hour.
RE7 comes back too, and its extra rush-hour trains that used to end at Wannsee now run on to the Stadtbahn in the morning and afternoon. If you went to Beelitz-Heilstätten this autumn and started at Charlottenburg, that detour is over.
RB23 does not return. It runs only between Golm and Potsdam-Griebnitzsee for the whole of 2027, so from Griebnitzsee you change to the S7.

A white and yellow ODEG double-deck train running as the RE1 to Magdeburg at the platform in Friedrichstraße station

An RE1 to Magdeburg at Friedrichstraße in May 2026, a few weeks before the Stadtbahn closed to regional trains.

More trains north and south

The new Nord-Süd contract brings the clearest improvements, and they matter if you leave the city at weekends:

RE3 runs every hour, every day, the whole way from Stralsund through Angermünde and Berlin to Jüterbog and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Schwedt is now served by the RB61, also hourly, with a change at Angermünde.
RE5 runs every hour along the whole line to Neustrelitz, Rostock and Stralsund, and the last trains between Berlin and Neustrelitz run until 23:00 every day, not just at weekends. On weekdays it also continues hourly to Ludwigsfelde during the day.
RE9 is a new line between Angermünde and Berlin Hbf. It takes over the extra rush-hour trains the RE3 used to run on that stretch. It is meant to reach Szczecin one day, but not while that line is still being upgraded.

A red DB Regio double-deck regional train pulling into Berlin Hauptbahnhof under the glass roof

A double-deck regional train at Hauptbahnhof. The new RE3 trains are late, so double-deck coaches like these run the line at first.

One small warning. The twelve new trains ordered for the RE3 will not arrive until the second half of 2027, so the start runs on older double-deck coaches, and the RB24 and RB32 borrow other trains in the meantime. More trains, yes. Shiny new ones, not yet.

Where the timetable change makes things worse

Not every line gets better. These are the ones to plan around:

RE4 stops at Wustermark. The rebuild of the Lehrter Bahn towards Stendal now lasts until December 2027, so Rathenow and Stendal stay cut off until about July 2027, when the line should reach Nennhausen.
Spandau station shuts for the works in autumn 2027. From 16 October 2027 Berlin-Spandau station is closed as well for the last phase of the Lehrter Bahn rebuild, and the VBB says the replacement plan is still being written.
Berlin to Hannover takes longer. Deutsche Bahn sends long-distance trains around the closed line via Braunschweig and Magdeburg, and the trip can take up to about 80 minutes longer until the end of 2027. Check your exact train before you book a weekend in the west.
Cottbus by RE2 means a bus. The RE2 ends at Lübbenau while the line to Cottbus is doubled, with replacement buses via Vetschau. The RE20 from BER takes over the hourly train to Cottbus, on a detour via Calau.

S1 and S5: a gap in the rush hour

This one will touch more people than any regional line. Because the older S-Bahn trains need work, two of the busiest stretches lose their steady five-minute rush-hour rhythm from 13 December:

S1 between Zehlendorf and Potsdamer Platz: trains every 5, 5 and then 10 minutes in the rush hour, instead of every 5 minutes. The remaining extra train runs on past Potsdamer Platz to Nordbahnhof.
S5 between Mahlsdorf and Warschauer Straße: the same 5, 5, 10 minute pattern in the rush hour.

A red and yellow S-Bahn train at the open platform of Zehlendorf station

Zehlendorf, where the S1 rush-hour gap begins. Every third train is ten minutes behind the one before.

In practice this means one longer wait in every three, and fuller trains after the gap. If you catch the S5 at Lichtenberg or Ostkreuz at 8:00, look at the departure board before you run for the platform. The train you would have sprinted for might be the one followed by a ten-minute hole, and the next one will be the fullest of the hour.

A red and yellow S-Bahn train at the platform of Warschauer Straße station with the glass station building behind

Warschauer Straße, the western end of the S5 stretch that drops to a 5, 5, 10 minute rush hour.

See your line on the board

Pick your line and the board shows every change from now to the end of 2027 on one timeline, with the date each one starts. The second part compares the ticket you use today with its price from 1 January.

What your ticket costs from 1 January

The good news first: the single ticket for Berlin AB stays at 4.00 euros. Almost everything around it moves:

4-trip card AB: 12.40 to 13.20 euros, so 3.30 a trip.
Single ABC: 5.00 to 5.20 euros. Short trip: 2.80 to 2.90 euros.
24-hour ticket AB: 11.20 to 11.50 euros.
VBB-Umweltkarte AB: 113 to 117.20 euros for one month, or 81.30 to 84.30 euros a month on a subscription.
Deutschlandticket: 63 to 66.80 euros a month.
Bike single AB: 2.70 to 2.80 euros. The Berlin-Ticket S stays at 27.50 euros.

The full list is in the VBB price table, which still carries the note that the prices await formal approval.

My advice: if you use 4-trip cards, buy what you will need for the first half of 2027 in December. Tickets bought at the old price stay valid until 30 June 2027, so a stack of cards bought before New Year saves you 80 cents each. I would not stock up beyond June, because after that the old cards only come back as a refund claim.

The bigger question is whether your monthly ticket still makes sense. At 66.80 euros the Deutschlandticket is still far cheaper than the 117.20 euro Umweltkarte without a contract, and it also beats the 84.30 euro subscription. My post on the Berlin monthly ticket works through the break-even against single tickets and the two things the local card does that the national one cannot.

My move before 13 December

I have been caught by a timetable change before: a train I had taken for two years simply left four minutes earlier one Monday, and I watched it go. So this is what I do each December:

Look up your two most important trips in the BVG or DB app once the planners show trains after 12 December, and save the new times.
Check your rush-hour gap if you ride the S1 or S5, and move your departure by a few minutes rather than racing for the train before the ten-minute hole.
Buy your 4-trip cards in December if you use them, and decide on your monthly ticket before the January charge.

When strikes, closures and new works hit the network, my transport strike guide has the plan for that day. And when the BVG publishes its own bus and tram changes, or the planners show something different from the press release, my weekly newsletter is where I will say so.

Image credits

Source and licence details for the 5 photographs used in this article.

Departure board on the regional platform at Friedrichstraße: Lukas Beck, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

An ODEG RE1 to Magdeburg at Berlin-Friedrichstraße: JoachimKohler-HB, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

A double-deck regional train arriving at Berlin Hauptbahnhof: Geoprofi Lars, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

S-Bahn station Zehlendorf: Michael.F.H.Barth, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

S-Bahn station Warschauer Straße: Michael.F.H.Barth, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.