Operator: Deutsche Bahn (DB)
Headcode: ICE774
Route: HNM-HAM
Class: 1st Class
Seat: C11, S54 S66
Date: Tuesday 23rd September 2025
With just a few days left in Germany before we began our journey home, I had decided to have a solo day trip whilst the rest of the group had decided to visit the town of Wolfenbüttel. With our base in Hildesheim being less than a couple of hours by train from one of my favourite cities, it felt only right that I headed there for the day and so I set off from Hildesheim to begin my journey to Hamburg. Unfortunately, whilst Hildesheim is on the east-west Berlin to Hannover high-speed line, services to Hamburg generally run along the north-south lune and so I would have to change trains at Hannover.
With the Hannover Messe complex hosting EMO 2025 (a trade show for European manufacturing), the ICE service to Hamburg was making an additional stop at Hannover Messe station and so the DB ticketing system had suggested I change there as the 10-minute connection was much easier at the smaller station. Unfortunately owing to the high demand caused by the trade fair, my RE service from Hildesheim was delayed, with that nice 10-minute same platform connection turning into a 2-minute connection to another platform. DB were not as optimistic as me, as the app had already given up on me making it and was advising me to rebook my reservations, but as we arrived the ICE service had not yet and so, after a rush up and over, I made it to the other platform just as the ICE had pulled in and was opening its doors!
My train was the ICE774 0504 Stuttgart to Hamburg service and was formed of a 13-car ICE4 trainset. Having called at seven stations before I boarded, Hannover Messe was the penultimate intermediate stop with only Hannover Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) left to call at before we arrived at Hamburg Hbf. I had a reservation for seat 54 in coach 11 (3rd from the front as DB don’t have coach 13), however when I arrived, I found someone else sat in it and, after my rush to make the train, I couldn’t be bothered to attempt to get them to move and so settled in the unreserved seat 66. This was a forward-facing table seat in a group of four, however I lucked out and ended up with the whole group to myself for the journey north.
As is fairly standard in first class across Europe, the first-class carriages on ICE4s are laid out in a 1-2 configuration either side of the aisle and have a mix of airline style and table seating. This means that whether you’re travelling along, in a pair or as part of a group, there’s generally going to be a good seating option for you. Unfortunately, the DB booking system doesn’t always let you select your seats so sometimes it is the luck of the draw as to where you end up. All the seats have power sockets down behind your knees as well as reading lights, coat hooks and arm rests. As would be expected there is also on-board Wi-Fi available which is better than some I’ve used, and the Wi-Fi portal offers a wide selection of entertainment options including e-books, films and music.
The Wi-Fi portal also allows you to order food and drink from the Bordrestaurant (on board restaurant) for delivery to your seat and so I ordered an ‘egg drop’ sandwich and a large macchiato just after departing Hannover Hbf. It only took around 10 minutes from ordering for it to be delivered, and the staff take payment (in my case €12.20) when it is delivered which saves them having to do refunds if they don’t have something available. Both the drink and sandwich were pretty tasty and as usual the standard and range of options of catering on DB ICE services was much higher than on their UK equivalents.
Having spent the holiday and its associated train journey enjoying myself and the scenery so far, I decided to make best use of the space I had available on this journey and get some writing done (although I can’t remember what blog post it was I was writing). However, as we approached the southern extremities of the Hamburg conurbation, I did start paying attention to what was outside the window, just in time to see the huge rail freight yard at Maschen. At 7k in length and more than 700m in width, Maschen Marshalling Yard is Europe’s largest shunting yard serving up to 150 trains daily. When it opened it had more than 300km of track and in the first 30 years of operation (1977-2007) it handled 1.18 million trains comprising of 35.5 million wagons!
At Maschen we were just 20km from the centre of Hamburg and were soon passing through the suburbs of Harburg and Wilhelmsburg. The approach into Hamburg from the south means crossing both branches of the Elbe River as it nears the end of its 1,112km journey across Europe. Pulling into the grand station of Hamburg Hbf, the second busiest in Europe after Paris Gare du Nord, our arrival was just one minute late at 1037, not bad for a train that had travelled around 540km over the course of five and a half hours. My relatively short journey of less than an hour and a half was very enjoyable with good food, a comfortable seat and a peaceful journey. What’s even better is that I didn’t get Deutsche Bahned!
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 4*
Service 5*
Punctuality 5*
Overall Rating 18/25 (read about my rating system here!)
Flights & Times 