German airline Lufthansa and railway operator Deutsche Bahn announced plans on Monday to improve the train options for passengers heading to the Frankfurt hub, as airlines try to ward off criticism of environmentally harmful domestic flights.
With through tickets and faster intercity connections, long-distance flight passengers are to be encouraged to travel by train rather than plane to the Frankfurt hub.
Five more cities will be added to the existing Lufthansa Express Rail system: Hamburg and Munich from July and Berlin, Bremen and Muenster from December. Seventeen cities are already connected.
From December onwards, Deutsche Bahn intends to cancel intermediate stops on certain connections from Cologne, Munich and Nuremberg to Frankfurt Airport, thus shortening the journey time.
When using Lufthansa Express Rail, passengers only have one connecting ticket, and are automatically rebooked on the next flights in the event of delays.
At the airport, they are supposed to pass more quickly through the various controls. But one problem is their luggage, which still has to be brought to the airport by the passengers themselves.
In the past, attempts to accept luggage at the departure train stations proved too complex and expensive.
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