ICE 41 (Ruhr area – Munich)

ICE line 41 runs hourly from Essen via Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Würzburg and Nuremberg to Munich.

Updated 2026-10-28 · rev 4

Profile

Concept kind: Rail line
Termini: Essen Hbf – München Hbf (einzelne Züge ab/bis Dortmund Hbf)
Structure: Ausbaustrecken Ruhrgebiet–Köln; Schnellfahrstrecke Köln–Rhein/Main zum Frankfurter Flughafen; über Würzburg (Ausbaustrecke) und die Schnellfahrstrecke Nürnberg–Ingolstadt nach München
Maximum speed: bis zu 300 km/h (ICE 3)
Status: In Betrieb
Operator: DB Fernverkehr AG
Owner: Deutsche Bahn AG (Betreiber: DB Fernverkehr AG)
Depots: ICE-Werk München (ICE 3)
Rolling stock: ICE 3, ICE 3 Velaro D
Headway: Stundentakt

Overview

ICE line 41 connects the Ruhr area hourly with Bavaria. It runs from Essen via Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Cologne, then via the Cologne–Rhine/Main high-speed line to Frankfurt am Main and via Würzburg and Nuremberg to Munich; individual trains begin or end in Dortmund. Trains of the ICE 3 series and the ICE 3 Velaro D (Class 406) are used. In Frankfurt the line calls only at the airport long-distance station and the main station.

Operator

The operator is DB Fernverkehr (DB Long-Distance Transport).

History

Line 41 originally ran from Essen via Frankfurt South station to Nuremberg. With the commissioning of the Nuremberg–Ingolstadt high-speed line (2006) it was extended to Munich via the new-build high-speed line. Between Hanau and Frankfurt it operates on the densest ICE interval in Germany.