Timetable change brings new lines and times for local transport

Passengers in the area of the Central German Transport Association (MDV) will have to adjust to far-reaching changes in local transport from mid-December. The reason for this is the nationwide timetable change for long-distance services, which will also necessitate numerous adjustments to suburban trains, regional trains, streetcars and buses in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, the MDV announced. The new timetable will apply from December 14.

Because central nodes, travel times and lines are changing in long-distance transport, the network of the S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland and several regional train lines are also being redesigned. This will lead to some new routes and changes to departure times. To ensure that connections between trains and buses continue to work, bus timetables have been adjusted in the districts of Leipzig, North Saxony, Altenburger Land and Saalekreis.

Rethinking interfaces

At the same time, Verbund is using the timetable change to make changes that have been planned for some time. In Merseburg, the city transport service is changing the route designations from letters to numbers. In future, buses will meet at Grimma station at a common transfer point to make it easier to switch between lines. In Leipzig, changes as part of the "Route Network of the Future" project already came into effect at the end of November, while adjustments are also set to follow in Halle (Saale) on December 14.

According to MDV, all new connections and travel times are already available in the standard public transport apps and on the transport companies' websites. An overview of the most important changes can also be found at 1ticket.de/fahrplanwechsel.