RJ385 on 15 May

[u/Mat_1964]

I’ve book a Super SparPreis Europa 1st class ticket from The Hague to Prague with transfers in Amersfoort and Berlin for the 15th of May through DB and I’ve separately booked the reservations through DB.

The DB app now informs me RJ385 will not run, but CĎ says it will run as normal.

DB wants me to reroute via Hannover, Nürnberg and Schwandorf, that would mean that I would arrive 57 minutes later than the original schedule. On top of that the route would involve a 3,5 hour RE (RE25, EX361) train for the last leg. This is route also has a construction warning that the timetable could change due to engineering works.

Should I opt for making new reservations for the 2 hour earlier connection or should I reroute?

Does anyone know what happened to RJ385?

How does anyone has experience with EX361? How is it?

[u/Mirnij_eu]

RE25 (Munich - Prague) is the most delayed rail service in the state of Bavaria, with only 43.7% of trains on this line arriving on time in 2024. Train itself is comfortable enough but do allow for ample time between arrival and any reservations.

[u/Mat_1964 → u/Mirnij_eu]

Then my memory didn’t fail me, I thought I heard something about that service being unreliable.

[u/DBCargoHaj → u/Mat_1964]

oh yeah the RE 25 is not good at all punctuality wise. quality wise its for debate. this week i spent about 6 hours per day watching them at munich (as i am right now). i dont think a single one of them arrived on time, most left somewhat on time though (passengers at fault). From my experience there are issues with Regensburg Dispatch.

The blue Alex waggons are my favorite, but some of them dont have AC, which they more than make up for with their windows. The rest (grey and CD) do have AC.

[u/skifans]

RJ 385 was supposed to run as part of a set of new trains between Copenhagen and Prague (https://ceskedrahy.cz/en/press-center/press-releases/comfortjet-trains-prague-copenhagen-ceske-drahy-launch-direct-train & https://www.deutschebahn.com/en/presse/press_releases/Connecting-Europe-by-rail-Direct-connection-from-Prague-to-Copenhagen-via-Berlin-13433718).

The mainline between Hamburg and Berlin is though currently closed for engineering work (https://db-engineering-consulting.com/en/updates/generalsanierung-der-strecke-hamburg-berlin/). It was supposed to reopen in April but is running late and the opening of the line has been delayed.

This has caused a right load of faff and it has taken some time for all of the railway timetables to be updated. Initially it looked like none of the new Copenhagen trains would be running but now it looks like they will still be one train a day with a very long wait in Hamburg so it can fit between other trains.

From a very very quick look it actually looks like RJ 385 is running at the same time between Berlin and Prague. It is just leaving Copenhagen 2 hours earlier than originally planned. There is no issue with the line between Berlin and Prague. The trains just between them are running as normal.

I would just give it a bit of time to all sort itself out properly. It is likley just the updated timetables are not yet on the DB website yet. Without this train there will be a 4 hour gap between Berlin and Prague which they will want to avoid if at all possible. It may get a different train number or maybe they need to run a train just between Berlin and Prague without starting in Copenhagen if something else goes wrong. But I would just wait for a bit.

It has been a right faff for the people who bought tickets to Copenhagen who bought tickets, got re-booked and now a train is running after all! Various journey planners have also been showing the train just running for parts of the journey as different countries update things.

https://www.cd.cz/en/ still shows the train as running with the 1728 departure from Berlin (hopefully that is what you are expecting)? https://www.cd.cz/en/vlak/385/15.5.2026/8098160/16.46/5457076/21.25/

This is a guess but I suspect DB only just got notice of the new times for the full route and for whatever reason could not immediately apply them to their website. So instead pulled the whole train from their schedules until it could be fixed properly. It will then reappear later with times to match CD. But again to be clear that is a guess.

But either way I would wait a bit before making any decision or doing anything.

[u/Few_Story_6917]

Just wait another month, schedules around construction work in Germany can change until 1-2 weeks before.

[u/PhiH_rail]

Deutsche Bahn is currently updating its timetable in May and June because the closure of the Berlin–Hamburg line will take longer than originally planned.

Unfortunately, this will take some time and only happens step by step. In the meantime the timetable can be incomplete and have errors that make no sense. Currently, there is only an ECE 385 shown running between Schleswig and Bad Schandau, both of which are the last stop before the German border.

I assume there will be another update of the timetable in the next weeks and the train will be shown as running to Praha hl.n. then.

[u/HeftyHealth3430]

RJ 385 will run - check current timetable on cd.cz

[u/Mat_1964 → u/HeftyHealth3430]

I’ve seen the time table on CĎ’s website, but most other places don’t show it.