The route from Hamburg to Hanover in Germany is one of the most important railway lines in Lower Saxony, running from the state capital of Hanover to Germany’s second largest city, Hamburg, and now you can take control of your own high speed passenger train on this arterial route in Train Simulator. The main section of the route from Celle to Harburg opened on 1 May 1847. Nineteen years later, the line reached Hamburg, and by 1906 was open to Hanoverian station, today known as Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. In the early 1970s, a number of trials took place to assess the line’s capability for high speed running at 200km/h. The trials proved to be a success and later that decade, a 78km (48 mile) section from Langenhagen to Uelzen was relaid to accommodate high speed trains, with the rest of the route upgraded by the end of the 1980s. Today, the 153km (95 mile) lines sees a busy mix of high speed and commuter passenger trains alongside regional and international freight trains. From the major transport hub of Hamburg, the route runs south through Harburg, Lüneburg, Uelzen and Celle. Landmarks along the route include the Metronom Depot at Uelzen, one of the company’s main maintenance depots for its commuter trains, Hamburg Docks and Hanover Flughafen’s underground station. South of Hamburg is also Maschen Marshalling Yard, Europe’s largest such facility and the second largest freight yard in the World. Covering an area of 280 hectares, the yard is around seven kilometres long and has a total track length of 300km, handling up to 11,000 goods wagons each day. The line is probably most well-known for its record breaking feat – on 13 August 1980, locomotive 120 002 set a new world speed record of 231km/h for rotary current locomotives between Celle and Uelzen. The Hamburg-Hanover route for Train Simulator is an accurate depiction of north Germany’s most important railway line, passing through spectacular scenery, unique stations and major freight depots. Enjoy this stunning route with the included DB ICE 2, DB Class 101 and DBAG Class 294.