Where do you encounter long-distance trains every minute? Where do most ICEs travel through Germany? The ICE hotspot in a fact check!

ICE trains are common across Germany’s main corridors. But on which stretch do they appear most frequently? Before reading further, how tight would you guess the interval is on Germany’s most ICE-intensive route?

The railway line between Hanau and Frankfurt has the highest ICE density in Germany. Around nine ICE lines operate there at least every two hours. When calculated purely on frequency, this results in an ICE approximately every twelve minutes per direction, excluding additional services outside the regular timetable.

This remarkable density is due to the strategic position of the Rhine-Main region, where multiple north-south and east-west long-distance routes converge. Many ICE services passing through Frankfurt use this short but crucial corridor.

Compared to other high-speed routes, this section stands out because different lines overlap, creating an almost continuous presence of ICE trains. It represents one of the most intensively used segments of Germany’s high-speed network.

Have you traveled on this line? Did you notice the unusually high number of ICE trains – and would you have expected such a tight calculated interval?