Operator: Deutsche Bahn (DB)
Headcode: ICE373
Route: BER-HIL
Class: 1st Class
Seat: C12, S111
Date: Friday 19th September 2025
Our arrival into Berlin Haupbahnhof (Hbf) had been by way of a slightly delayed DB Intercity service which had dropped us off in the depths of the station’s low-level platforms. For the second leg of the journey, we’d be travelling on a DB Intercity Express (ICE) service from Berlin to Hildesheim, the town in Lower Saxony that would be our base for the second half of our holiday. So, with around 45 minutes until our next train was scheduled to depart we made our way upstairs to the entry level of the five-tier station ready to get on with the second part of our travel day. You can read about the first leg of this journey here, and there are also plenty of other posts from this trip available on the blog.
Having used Berlin Hbf station a couple of times I was genuinely surprised with just how busy and chaotic it was, especially around the seemingly poorly placed departure boards at the entrance. Our train was displayed around 30 minutes before departure, and we headed up to the high-level platform 14 to wait, hoping to get away from some of the chaos, however ultimately arriving in some more. Unfortunately, we got to experience the use of Deutsche Bahn as a verb, as pretty much every train had been Deutsche Bahned with delays of 10-15 minutes and these delays just snowballing onto subsequent trains on this busy rail corridor.
With all the delays all the trains calling at the westbound platforms seemed to be switching to the other side of the island platform at the last minute and our train followed form, arriving on platform 13 rather than 14. Our train was formed by a 13-car ICE4, an electric multiple unit produced by Siemens and, until 2020, the newest type of unit in the DB ICE fleet. We were in coach 12, the second coach from the front after coach 14 (who knew DB were superstitious in avoiding coach 13) and, as with our entire experience at Berlin Hbf so far, boarding was chaotic. It didn’t help that I had to ask the same person to move twice, out of each pair of our clearly reserved seats, and that the luggage rack for larger bags is situated part way down the carriage after the first dozen or so seats. One bonus point I’ll give the ICE4 though is that its got very generous sized overhead luggage racks that could fit my hiking rucksack, making life a little bit easier.
First class seating on the ICE4s is laid out in the usual 1-2 configuration either side of the aisle and we were in seats 111, 114, 121 and 124 which turned out to be two pairs around tables on the single side of the aisle (despite the seat numbering reaching 131, there’s only actually 67 seats in the first-class carriages). As would be expected from DB’s premier class of train, there’s the usual modern amenities such as Wi-Fi and power sockets as well as reading lights and coat hooks. ICE trains also have the Bordrestaurant, on this train located in coach 10, which the Wi-Fi portal allegedly allows you to order from for at-seat service.
Our service was the ICE373 1217 departure from Berlin Ostbahnhof to Interlaken Ost, which calls at 21 stations on its nine-and-a-half-hour journey across Germany and Switzerland. We would be onboard for just under two hours, with three intermediate stops at Berlin Spandau, Wolfsburg and Braunsweig Hbh and were due to arrive at 1418, although that time immediately seemed to be at risk given, we departed 14 minutes late at 1244. After our stop of Hildesheim, the train would make its way down the spine of the Germany ICE network via Frankfurt and Mannheim (from where I boarded my only previous ICE experience – read about that here) before making its way through Switzerland from Basel to Interlaken.
As I alluded to above, the Wi-Fi portal allows you to order from the Bordrestaurant and I’ve got to say the selection available is impressive. There was plenty of choice of the usual snacks, sandwiches and drinks, but there was also some more substantial choices available such as a chicken curry, currywurst and pulled pork sandwiches. We tried to order a beer, a ‘meatball roll’ and two chocolate bars via the portal, which would have cost €15.30, however the order was cancelled twice, so we eventually wandered back a couple of carriages to the Bordrestaurant just after Wolfsberg. At that point we grabbed an orange juice, a slice of apple cake and two chocolate bars which came to €12.53, a somewhat reasonable price for the captive on-train market.
The Wi-Fi portal also provided access to games, music and movies aswell as lots of information about the journey such as our speed and a live tracker, however unfortunately the internet strength wasn’t sufficient to support it a lot of the time. One time I did get it to work was around 10-15 minutes before we arrived at Wolfsburg where we had reached 250km/h (155mph), the max speed for the Berlin to Hannover high-speed line. After the stop at Berlin Spandau, the run to Wolfsburg was an hour or so of uninterrupted high-speed running, and it was amazing how smooth the journey was at this stage.
Midway between Berlin and Wolfsburg, close to the town of Stendal, we crossed the Elbe and then, approaching Wolfsburg, crossed the Mittlelandkanal. This canal is over 200 miles long and runs from the Dortmund-Ems canal near Rheine in the west of Germany to the Elbe near Magdeburg and is part of the continuous waterway link from France and the Benelux countries to Poland and the Baltic Sea. In Wolfsburg itself, the canal separates the railway from the Volkswagen Headquarters and factory, a prominent landmark in the town and an important part of the local economy. At Wolfsburg we also passed another late running ICE services, the ICE847/857 from Cologne to Berlin Ostbahnhof.
After Wolfsburg it was a quick 20-minute run to the next stop at Brunswick, where on the approach we passed RailAdventure’s Zughotel sidings which had several new locos and an interesting looking articulated set of carriages in DB livery. After a bit of investigation, it appears that this is the first ICE L set that is undergoing testing ahead of introduction on Intercity services where they will replace the 1980s coaches that are becoming life-expired. The locos that were stabled up were the DB Class 105s, Talgo Travcas, that have been purchased alongside the ICE L sets to provide the power in push-pull operations.
The final run from Brunswick to Hildesheim was uneventful and we pulled into Hildesheim’s platform 3 at 1441, 23 minutes late. Overall, it was a pleasant journey, although a little rough around the edges when you consider the poor internet, the failed online Bordrestaurant orders and the delay. However, the staff were all pleasant, the seat was comfortable and the journey was smooth, so all in all a good journey.
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 4*
Service 4*
Punctuality 3*
Overall Rating 15/25 (read about my rating system here!)
Flights & Times 