Half as fast as Chinese trains, Paris-Berlin direct daytime high-speed rail service begins

French and German rail operators have launched the first direct high-speed rail link between Paris and Berlin, in response to growing European demand for train travel.

The inaugural service on the 1,100-kilometre route, a German ICE train, left the French capital’s Gare de l’Est station at 9.55am on December 16 and was due at Berlin Hauptbahnhof at 6.03pm.

According to a post on X, the actual travel time was 7 hours 59 minutes.

In comparison, in China the fastest journey between Beijing South and Shanghai Hongqiao stations by high-speed train, a distance of 1,318 kilometres, is 4 hours 18 minutes.

The service shaves only minutes off the fastest one-change connection between both capitals.