At the moment, train journeys between Vienna and Berlin still require good seats, because ideally you need nine hours by train. That should change, because in the future the travel time should be reduced to four hours and five minutes.

To this end, the transport ministers of Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic signed an agreement. This stipulates that the railway line should be accelerated. Among other things, a tunnel is being built through the Ore Mountains for this purpose. For this reason, among other things, completion is expected in the mid-2030s at the earliest.

The route takes place via Brno, Prague and Dresden. Travel times should be shortened as follows: The capital of the Czech Republic should be reachable from Vienna in two hours. You should get to Dresden in around three hours and you should be able to get off at Berlin Central Station after four hours and five minutes.

The governments of the three countries see the project as a pilot project and the start of the shift from short-haul flights to rail. However, it was also acknowledged that there is still a long way to go until the railroad will be able to offer attractive travel times on certain routes.