Deutsche Bahn will commence a four-month-long refurbishment of the train line between Berlin and Hamburg later this week ¨C one of Germany's busiest commuter and business travel routes.

The operator said track, points and bridges on a 74km stretch of the 290km-long route will be renovated between 16 August and 14 December, leading to timetable changes around Berlin, Wittenberge, Ludwigslust, B¨¹chen and Hamburg.

High-speed ICE services between Germany's biggest two cities will be replaced by an hourly service that takes a longer, more westerly route and adds 45 minutes to a journey that usually takes around one hour, 45 minutes.

Some intermediate stations will be served by replacement buses.

The project will be followed by a second period of work on the route in 2025-26, with Deutsche Bahn stating that the first stage repairs could not wait to be done in tandem.

The operator is conducting a range of upgrades around the country in 2024 and 2025 as aging infrastructure continues to hinder the operator and its passengers.

After reporting a €1.2 billion loss for the first half of 2024 last month, Deutsche Bahn said it will cut 30,000 jobs over the next five years, blaming its position on ¡°failure prone¡± rail infrastructure, strikes and severe weather.

The company¡¯s finances will be boosted in the second half of 2024 by new support from the German government for infrastructure maintenance expenses.