Operator: Deutsche Bahn (DB)
Headcode: IC146
Route: HAN-HLV
Class: 1st Class
Seat: C31, S34
Date: Thursday 25th September 2025
After an enjoyable couple of weeks spent based in Dresden and Hildesheim, with plenty of exploring of both those cities and day trips to others, it was unfortunately time to head home. The journey back to the UK would see us heading back to The Netherlands and the city of Rotterdam, before catching the overnight ferry back across the North Sea to Harwich. However, before we got there, there would be a couple more interesting trains to try out and so, after a short S-bahn ride into from Hildesheim, we found ourselves at Hannover Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) once again, ready to begin heading west.
We arrived at Hannover Hbf around 35 minutes before our train, IC146 was due to depart, with the collection of DB carriages hauled by an NS (Dutch Railways) locomotive arriving at 1152. IC146 is the 0953 service from Berlin Ostbahnhof to Amsterdam Centraal which calls at Berlin Hbf and Berlin Spandau before we joined the train at Hannover. After departing Hannover there would be 8 stops before where we would alight at Hilversum, which would be the service’s penultimate stop. Our seats were in a compartment in coach 31, the second from the rear of the train, and this first-class compartment had two other seats alongside our four.
The compartment had luggage storage above the seats which turned out to be ok for solid bags, however rucksacks don’t stack well on it as you inevitably end up with one falling onto the table, as we found out! The table is fixed with four of the six seats having access, and all of the seats having coat hooks and reading lights. There’s also power sockets (two per three seats) and bins located under the seats, although this does mean there’s no space under the seats for luggage. Whilst the seats were comfortable, it felt a lot more cramped in the compartment compared to the open 1st class seating we’d travelled in on other trains during the trip and ultimately there was definitely not space for six people’s worth of luggage if our seat mates had brought some.
Departing ontime at 1156, we had an uneventful journey to the first stop at Bünde (Westf), however by the time we had reached the second stop at Osnabrücke we were running 11 minutes late. After departing Osnabrücke I went for a bit of a wander to the back of the train to stretch my legs and watch the view of the track rolling away behind us, an advantage of loco hauled carriages over modern units. I also took the opportunity to check out the loos which were quite large in comparison to some train toilets. Our third stop at Rheine came around half an hour after Osnabrücke and one of our two seat mates left the train here giving us a bit more space. Rheine also had a large freight yard next to the station, with plenty of wagons stabled awaiting their next workings across Europe.
The next stop, Bad Bentheim, is the German border town on this line and we crossed the border into The Netherlands shortly after the station. We were also making up some time after our earlier delay, recovering to only 10 minutes late at Bad Bentheim and just four minutes late leaving the first Dutch station of Hengelo. The DB app had indicated that the BordBistro was available after Hengelo, however after walking the length of the train we couldn’t find any refreshments, somewhat surprising given it’s a six-hour journey from Berlin to Amsterdam.
By Deventer we had recovered all of our delay and as we departed on time I was please to see lots of the iconic Koploppers in the adjacent yard just before we crossed the river Ijssel. The stop at Apeldoorn was uneventful, and at Amersfoort Central the other passenger in our compartment left the train. Amersfoort is another station with a large adjacent rail yard and here there were lots more Koploopers along with freight wagons and locos parked up. From Amersfoort it was just over a 10-minute run to Hilversum where we would be leaving the train and we arrived at 1536, one minute early.
This journey with DB onboard an Intercity service from Hannover to Hilversum was ok but certainly not up to the same standard as our other journeys with DB during this trip. The lack of any sort of catering was disappointing, especially given it is a route between two European capitals that takes over six hours from end to end. However, around three weeks after we travelled on the service, the Berlin to Amsterdam route was transferred from Intercity to ICE, with ICE3neo units now operating on the route which include a Bordrestaurant.
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 3*
Food 0*
Service 5*
Punctuality 5*
Overall Rating 13/25 (read about my rating system here!)
Flights & Times 