Prague‑Copenhagen train delayed
The direct Prague–Copenhagen train launch has been pushed back to June 14, 2026 because of ongoing work on the Berlin–Hamburg rail corridor — so the route’s coming, but it’s a few weeks later than planned. (Prague–Copenhagen delay).
A train that was supposed to start running between Prague and Copenhagen on May 1 will now wait until June 14, because the rail line between Berlin and Hamburg will not fully reopen until mid-June. Czech Railways now lists June 14, 2026 as the launch date for the direct service. (cd.cz) The holdup is not in Prague or Copenhagen. It is on the 278-kilometer Berlin–Hamburg corridor, where Deutsche Bahn has been carrying out a full renovation with work on tracks, switches, overhead power lines, signaling, and 28 stations. (hamburg-berlin.deutschebahn.com, dbregio-mecklenburg-vorpommern.de) Deutsche Bahn says the line will come back in two steps. Trains will first return on the Hamburg-to-Schwerin section from May 15, and the full Hamburg-to-Berlin route is scheduled to be released on June 14. (hamburg-berlin.deutschebahn.com) That matters because the new Prague–Copenhagen train is basically one long chain: Prague to Berlin, Berlin to Hamburg, and then Hamburg to Copenhagen. If the middle link is only partly open, the through train cannot run as planned. (deutschebahn.com, hamburg-berlin.deutschebahn.com) The route itself is still real, and it is still unusually ambitious for Central and Northern Europe. Deutsche Bahn, Danish State Railways, and Czech Railways announced it in July 2025 as a direct connection linking three capitals with ComfortJet trains. (deutschebahn.com, ceskedrahy.cz) Czech Railways said the plan was for two train pairs a day all year, with a third pair added in summer. The same announcement said the service would run Prague–Berlin–Hamburg–Copenhagen, turning a trip that usually meant at least one change into a one-seat ride. (ceskedrahy.cz) This is also part of a bigger European Union push to make cross-border rail less fragmented. Euronews reported in 2025 that the Prague–Copenhagen link was the first of 10 pilot projects selected by the European Commission to encourage new international train routes. (euronews.com) So the story is less “canceled” than “a corridor problem delayed the ribbon-cutting.” The launch date moved by six weeks, but the operators are still selling the same idea: a direct train from Prague through Berlin and Hamburg to Copenhagen, starting June 14, 2026. (cd.cz, hamburg-berlin.deutschebahn.com)
