Some advice on travel in north east Germany please

[Leslie Fletcher]

In a few weeks time I am travelling from the UK to Wolgast on the Baltic coast of Germany and back again a few weeks after that. This isn’t the first time I have done this journey but I am baffled by what the Deutsche Bahn website is giving me this time. I am offered itineraries with a change at Stralsund, which does seem a long way round. Are there no direct trains Berlin ↔ Zussow at present as there were last time I did this journey? These trains were to/from Ostseebad Binz if I remember correctly. Bernau seems to be the nearest to Berlin that trains to and from Zussow get, with an inconvenient S-bahn connection to Berlin HBF or Spandau. Is this also the cause of counterintuitive itineraries between Wolgast and either Cologne or Brussels – via Hamburg for example?

 

[dutchflyer]

There are indeed longer time works along a longsector of a main line going NOrth from Berlin, with the result as you describe. It is as a broad/general rule best to follow the advice of bahn.de- its tripplanner works remarkably good and at least the german version also has an extensive listing of all works (Bau-arbeiten). Do NOT trust exact times of replacement (SEV in german) buses too much.
Sorry, even though I now sit in a suburbia of Köln, I lack time to check exact details-also if it this case/time it maight be worthwhile to see to go via Hamburg to overthere. The german nickname for the area is often´ Mac-Pommes´ (Mecklenburg, Pommern, Pommes is french fries)

 

[30907]

IIRC the work is at Karow Kreuz where the Stettiner.Bahn routeconnects with the NE section of the Aussenring.

 

[Leslie Fletcher]

There are indeed longer time works along a longsector of a main line going NOrth from Berlin, with the result as you describe. It is as a broad/general rule best to follow the advice of bahn.de- its tripplanner works remarkably good and at least the german version also has an extensive listing of all works (Bau-arbeiten). Do NOT trust exact times of replacement (SEV in german) buses too much.
Sorry, even though I now sit in a suburbia of Köln, I lack time to check exact details-also if it this case/time it maight be worthwhile to see to go via Hamburg to overthere. The german nickname for the area is often´ Mac-Pommes´ (Mecklenburg, Pommern, Pommes is french fries)

Thanks for this - very helpful

 

[nwales58]

Until 29/05 RE3, every 2 hours, does not run between Berlin Hbf and Bernau (Berlin is a building site, previous post). The intervening ICEs are running via Neustrelitz instead.

So the fastest journeys from Berlin are on alternate hours when the RE3 runs using S-Bahn to Bernau.

Connections along the way are the reason you're finding the fastest journeys via Stralsund.

E.g. starting early from Brussels ICE11 connects at Köln into ICE545, a wiggle around Berlin gets you to Bernau at 1414 for the 1454 RE3.

As it's germany, some of the connections will probably fail so I'd treat it as yet another german rail adventure day. Even if your ticket has a fixed route, once you're late you can let bahn.de guide you along the new fastest route.