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Metronome cancels trips: What does this mean for commuters in northern Germany?
Metronom will be discontinuing its timetable for the Hamburg-Lüneburg-Uelzen and Bremen-Rotenburg-Hamburg routes from November 3, 2025.
Metronome cancels trips: What does this mean for commuters in northern Germany?
From today on, rail travelers in northern Germany will have to prepare for some unpleasant changes. As butenunbinnen.de reports, Metronom has thinned out its timetable due to an urgent shortage of running trains. This change particularly affects the routesBremen-Rotenburg-Hamburgas well as Hamburg-Lüneburg-Uelzen. The lines RE3, RB31, RE4 and RB41 are affected.
Unfortunately, during the week from Monday to Friday, numerous train journeys are canceled without replacement. This unprecedented package of measures, which is valid until December 13, 2025, is called the stabilization timetable and aims to increase reliability in rail transport and minimize short-term failures.
Background to the timetable change
The reasons for this drastic measure lie in the lack of availability of trains provided by Alstom, the company responsible for maintenance. Currently, of the 27 vehicles required, only 22 are ready for use, which leads to a reduction of 16 trips per week, as [ndr.de](https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/niedersachsen/lueneburg_heide_unterelbe/metronom-duennt-fahrplan-aus-16-fahrten- Werden-gestrichen-bahn,metronom-104.html) reports. Longer material procurement times and unplanned maintenance work are the main causes of this shortage.
Two trains, which are expected to be operational again in the first days of November, are also affected by extreme damage to the vehicles, such as damage to the overhead line and a fallen tree. Alstom has promised to make the remaining vehicles available before the end of the year to remedy the current misery.
Measures to defuse the situation
In order to defuse the undesirable situation somewhat, the state local transport company (LNVG) is working on procuring replacement vehicles and has even offered Metronom additional vehicles. The latter is currently examining the use of these vehicles, while the LNVG plans to also invoke this regulation in the context of claims for damages against Alstom.
Metronom advises passengers to regularly check the electronic timetable information. The changes will primarily affect commuters and travelers who rely on reliable connections between regions. At a time when mobility is at a premium, it is once again apparent how vulnerable rail transport can be.
We hope that the responsible parties will quickly find a solution to minimize the impact of the outages and enable passengers to have a smooth and reliable journey again soon.