For the 2024 version of the long-distance rail map in Germany, I have totally rebuilt the map. It still shows the systematic long-distance trains in Germany (e.g. all connections that run at least three times daily). As the number and variety of connections is increasing, the main axes count more and more lines, whereas the frequency per line remains mostly the same. This leads to more packed areas in the map. Therefore, I had to choose a larger format in contrast to the 2023 version. In that way, I could disentangle some main nodes (such as Frankfurt or Berlin) for a higher readability.
Apart from the format, I have made only slight changes. The connections with less than three daily connections and the connections in the surrounding countries are shown in brown instead of grey. For better orientation, some stops are added on these sections. In addition, I have split the keys into two part and added explanations in English to it.
What were the changes concerning the timetable 2024? The axis Berlin to Hannover and Rhine-Ruhr has been rearranged. The changes mainly concern the accelerated IC 77 line to Amsterdam, the newly introduced ICE 19 line and the adapted ICE 10 line to Bonn. Between Berlin and Munich, a new Sprinter line ICE 8 has been introduced. It completes the ICE 29 line to almost an hourly fast service between the two cities. However, as the ICE 8 line has less stops than the ICE 29 line, the departure times do not correspond with an exact scheme. In addition, the IC 61 line has been extended from Nürnberg to Jena and Leipzig along the ‘old’ main railway line from Bavaria to Thuringia and Saxony.
There have been further changes for specific trains that have no influence on my network map. In 2024, maintainance work has an extended impact on the rail network in Germany. These changes are not shown.
As always, I made an effort on analysing the timetables carefully. However, if you discover any mistake in the maps, please let me know. Just be aware that I had to make numerous simplifications because the long-distance service is at times not very systematic. This means especially that connections less than three times a day are not shown.
Please make sure to have a look at the newer 2025 version of this map.
Official Map from DB:
ICE/IC Network Map 2024
lars' transport maps 
Great work – you used QGIS to create the map?
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No, I draw the network map directly in Affinity Designer. My network maps are not geographically correct, so QGIS wouldn’t be a big help.
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Hello
how does it work to make parallel lines around curves? So that they always have the same distance.
A beautiful map and much better than the original.
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I use Affinity Designer to make the maps. It has, like most other vector based programs, a function to set the radius of a curve to a specific value. So I just have to choose to right parameters.
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Thank you very much for creating this.
I found an inconsistancy (I think):
On the bottom right it says “..Services with less then three…. are not shown”.
But
– they are shown albeit just a selection
– on the bottom left it says “less then three daily services” -> suggests, all of them are shown
The legend for the “stops on a section without regular service (selection)” is correct though
Viele Grüße / best wishes
Carsten
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Thanks for your comment. I have got similar feedback before, so I have clarified the description: It is still true, that the lines are not labelled or allocated to a specific line if the number of connections is less than three. But yes, the connections are still shown somehow. I hope the new text is more comprehensible.
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This looks very… clean! Colours are nice, lines are ordered, great job!
Great way to cleanse my eyes after the 2024 release of the yearly and very, very ugly official Deutsche Bahn map for the IC, ICE and EC.
P.S. I might use this for next week when I will travel with my father from München to Berlin using the InterCity Express.
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Thank you for your comment!
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Why didn’t you include sprinters like ICE 2 or 4?
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The map shows lines with at least three daily connections in order to focus on the systematised connections. As far as I know, the Sprinter lines 2 and 4 consist of only two daily connections each.
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