New high-speed rail service will connect Paris and Berlin with 7-hour journey

Brandenburg Gate: Berlin and Paris are about to get a lot closer. Photo / Getty Images

Paris and Berlin will even closer next year with the launch of high-speed rail service.

From as soon as December 2023, travellers could take a direct train from Paris to Berlin in just seven hours, according to French rail operator SNCF.

According to SNCF CEO Jean-Pierre Farandou, the route made sense, especially as long rail journeys appear to be rising in popularity.

"It makes sense because we see that people are accepting longer and longer journeys. There are really people who are willing to spend five hours, six hours, seven hours on a train," Farandou told AFP via Euronews.

SNCF and Deutsche Bahn, a German rail operator, currently run some high-speed train services between Paris and German cities like Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Mannheim.

Currently, there is no direct rail line from Berlin to Paris. Passengers can board a DB service, which takes approximately 8 hours and 20 minutes, and involves a transfer at Mannheim, Rheinmünster, or Frankfurt.

The direct high-speed rail service will take about 7 hours to travel between Paris and Berlin. Photo / Google Maps

SNCF's Alain Krakovitch said the success of Paris' other high-speed links to Milan and Barcelona indicated this form of travel had a strong future.

"Paris-Milan and Paris-Barcelona have amazing occupancy rates: on Paris-Milan, the offer has doubled with the arrival of Trenitalia (an Italian high-speed rail company that started operating in France last year), and despite that, the trains are full," Krakovitch said.

"We should be able to have the same thing on Paris-Berlin."

One train will run between Paris and Berlin daily in December 2023, with a night service planned in the future.

Currently, a flight takes approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes, not including time spent getting to and through the airports.

In the UK, Eurostar has also announced plans to join with French-Belgian rail operator Thalys to connect London with cities in Germany.

Swedish operator SJ will also launch a EuroNight service in September, which connects the capital Stockholm to Hamburg in Germany with a stop in Copenhagen.