Any loco-hauled still at Berlin Hbf?

[Bigchris]

Evening all,

Just a quick one, as the title suggests, does anybody know if there are still any loco halued passenger services through Berlin Hbf or are they all units now? I'll be travelling through there next Friday morning and just wondered if it's worth a look on the platforms for an hour or just head straight to the airport (assuming my ICE from Hannover is on time ).

Cheers, Chris

 

[StephenHunter]

European Sleeper goes through there, but not on a Friday morning.

 

[ainsworth74]

or just head straight to the airport (assuming my ICE from Hannover is on time ).

So you'll be going straight to the airport then

 

[Bigchris]

Ha ha yes, I wouldn't put any money on it, that's why I've planned over an hour spare

 

[DanielB]

The Amsterdam - Berlin Intercity is still loco hauled this summer (will become ICE3neo from the autumn) And I believe the ECs towards Poland as well.

 

[Paul Kelly]

I think the East-West mainline through Berlin might be closed at the minute so that rules out the Amsterdam and Warsaw services but the Prague - Hamburg service (runs from the lower level platforms) is also loco-hauled and still running right now.

 

[popeter45]

quiet a few RE services thru Berlin Hbf are loco hauled

 

[Denis103]

Look at https://bahn.expert/
RE2, RE4, RE5 and FEX services are best options plus EC trains

 

[The exile]

So you'll be going straight to the airport then

Your airport train could well be hauled, if you choose the right one....

 

[Bigchris]

Thanks for the info people. I'll keep my fingers crossed, will be there morning peak so might strike it lucky. I'll probably get FEX to the airport as there's one that arrives bang on 2 hours before my flight so seems a good option.

 

[sng7]

When I was there last summer I saw a loco hauled Flixtrain as well

 

[Bletchleyite]

Does the Berlin-Warszawa-Express serve Hbf? If so that is definitely loco hauled with PKP IC coaches.

 

[The exile]

I think Regio Berlin-Brandenburg does a “know my train” thing somewhere on the db site saying what routes have what stock. Won’t help at individual train level if a route is shared emu and hauled dostos but it’ll give a rough guide. Finding it might be a challenge though.

 

[andersj]

I think Regio Berlin-Brandenburg does a “know my train” thing somewhere on the db site saying what routes have what stock. Won’t help at individual train level if a route is shared emu and hauled dostos but it’ll give a rough guide. Finding it might be a challenge though.

It's right here: https://www.vbb.de/unterwegs-im-vbb/regionalbahnlinien/

 

[The exile]

It's right here: https://www.vbb.de/unterwegs-im-vbb/regionalbahnlinien/

Ah - on the vbb site! Explains why I couldn’t quickly find it on db.

 

[43096]

I think Regio Berlin-Brandenburg does a “know my train” thing somewhere on the db site saying what routes have what stock. Won’t help at individual train level if a route is shared emu and hauled dostos but it’ll give a rough guide. Finding it might be a challenge though.

As noted above, bahn.expert is the definitive way to find out - it gives vehicle allocations for most DB services.

 

[Triddle]

Also the Flensburg <--> Praha n.l. Czech Railways EC which goes through Hbf low level.

 

[43096]

Also the Flensburg <--> Praha n.l. Czech Railways EC which goes through Hbf low level.

Mentioned in post 6!

 

[Richard Scott]

Does the Berlin-Warszawa-Express serve Hbf? If so that is definitely loco hauled with PKP IC coaches.

Yes it does.

 

[railfan99]

Does the Berlin-Warszawa-Express serve Hbf? If so that is definitely loco hauled with PKP IC coaches.

I travelled on that train in the reverse direction in October 2024. A pleasant few hours.

At Berlin Hbf on another day, I observed Hungary's MAV loco-hauled departing for Budapest, but weighed down with a suitcase and backpack, I didn't see or record the loco.

 

[Bigchris]

Thanks for all the info people. I'm not sure the link vbb link is particularly user friendly unless I'm missing something, I can't seem to find many services on there that show what the train actaully is. Regardless, I'll report back on if I manage to see much in the short time I'll have available.

 

[The exile]

Thanks for all the info people. I'm not sure the link vbb link is particularly user friendly unless I'm missing something, I can't seem to find many services on there that show what the train actaully is. Regardless, I'll report back on if I manage to see much in the short time I'll have available.

If you scroll down to where the individual services are listed (Linienuebersicht) and click on any one you’ll then find “Dieser Zug ist fur Sie unterwegs”. Germany refused to pay for Northern!s random unit generator so what you see on there is (usually) what you’ll get.

 

[Bigchris]

Ah, got it thanks. Made the mistake of using the English version which then gives you less information than the full German site.

Potentially locos on FEX, RE2/3/4/5/7 & RB10/14 in addition to anything long-distance

 

[43096]

At Berlin Hbf on another day, I observed Hungary's MAV loco-hauled departing for Budapest, but weighed down with a suitcase and backpack, I didn't see or record the loco.

It’s a through service via Praha and fits into the Berlin-Praha service pattern. Traction is a ČD Vectron.

 

[StephenHunter]

It’s a through service via Praha and fits into the Berlin-Praha service pattern. Traction is a ČD Vectron.

More accurately, those locomotives are RSL locomotives in ČD livery as they're leased, with D-RAILL registration.

 

[87015]

More accurately, those locomotives are RSL locomotives in ČD livery as they're leased, with D-RAILL registration.

Except the ones which aren’t and are CD owned, if you insist on attempting to be pedantic then quite a lot are already D-CD

 

[Bigchris]

Sorry for the delayed reply on my original question, came back through Berlin last Friday morning but landed at Birmingham and literally went straight on holiday so only just remembered about it.

So in answer to my own question, there are quite a few loco hauled still through Berlin Hbf but there was quite a bit of disruption on the day so didn't see many of the REs that were scheduled as I only had about an hour there in the end. If you know Berlin Hbf you'll know it's not really possible to run up and down between the high and low level so all these were through the low level platforms. I ended up being there about an hour as I was delayed arriving (ICE from Hannover terminated short of Hbf) so this is roughly 08:00-09:00. I got the FEX to the airport which was 187 hauled (pushed), and again, delayed arriving at the airport after a very slow run. Locos seen were:

101139 IC
101145 IC
112113
112114
146276
147001
147003
147004
147017
182004
182015
193604 FLIX
1216250 NightJet

And just to keep with the theme, my train from Birmingham International to North Wales was then delayed and after an extra change I arrived over an hour late. Thank you Delay Repay

 

[43096]

More accurately, those locomotives are RSL locomotives in ČD livery as they're leased, with D-RAILL registration.

As @87015 rightly points out, ČD are buying some of the RSL locos. I’d also point out that 193289-298 are ELL owned, not RSL, and can also appear - indeed that service is what ČD originally leased them for. Hence why I said ČD rather than specifying ownership.

Trying to be clever has rather backfired, hasn’t it?

 

[43096]

193604 FLIX

Was that 91 80 6193 604 or 91 80 7193 604? Both have been used on Flix services in the last year or so, but are different locos with different owners.

 

[D365]

There would have been the loco-hauled ’ICE L’ trainsets in Berlin by now, had the originally anticipated timescales come good.