Culture Train
Berlin – Wrocław
The Berlin-Wrocław Culture Train has been terminated until further notice: On December 28, 2025, the Culture Train made its final trip – for the time being – on the route from Berlin to Wrocław.
Since its launch in 2016, the Culture Train has offered more than 116,000 passengers an entertaining and culturally rich journey. Over the past ten years, more than 1,500 program guests have organized a multilingual, varied onboard program across a total of 1,548 trips – ranging from talks and concerts to workshops, club nights, language activities, and performances. This created a unique space for dialogue and interaction. Every weekend, this project, the only one of its kind in Europe, brought together regions, generations, and cultures across national borders. The Culture Train successfully achieved its goal of promoting cultural exchange and strengthening neighborly ties. The results following the conclusion of the tenth season at the end of 2025 are correspondingly positive: average occupancy exceeded 85 percent. The Culture Train made an important contribution to the integration of the German-Polish border region and provided lasting momentum for cultural cooperation between Berlin and Wrocław.
The idea carries on
After ten years, the chapter on the Culture Train is not yet coming to a close. The new organizer, the European Academy Berlin, plans to use the pilot project as a model for selected events and city partnerships, as well as to mark major anniversaries. Starting in the fall of 2026, the train is scheduled to run between Berlin and Warsaw (Warszawa), with stops in Frankfurt (Oder) and Poznań (Poznań). Current information is available on Instagram.
From 2022 to 2026, the state-owned Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH, together with the long-standing team of curators, was responsible for the cultural program on board the Culture Train. The Culture Train was funded by the states of Berlin and Brandenburg.
Experience cultural kilometers
In about 4.5 hours, the Culture Train connected Berlin with the Polish city of Wrocław. On Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, it traveled from Berlin-Lichtenberg to Wrocław Główny. The Culture Train returned on Friday and Sunday evenings. The Culture Train ran on the following route:
Berlin-Lichtenberg – Berlin Ostkreuz – Cottbus Central Station – Weißwasser (Upper Lusatia) – Węgliniec – Bolesławiec – Chojnów – Legnica – Wrocław Główny
On the move for humanitarian causes
The Culture Train was also used to bring refugees to safety. It transported more than 6,000 Ukrainians who were forced to flee their homeland following Russia’s invasion. Numerous volunteers accompanied the refugees to Cottbus and Berlin. In 2023, the team of volunteers was awarded the State of Brandenburg’s European Certificate.
Culture Train Berlin-Poznań-Warszawa
Proven concept, new route: the success of the Berlin-Wrocław Culture Train, which has been connecting the two cities on a weekly basis since 2016, led to the idea of offering this format on the Berlin-Poznań-Warszawa route as well. Under the motto “Moving cities”, a multilingual cultural program took place for the first time on board the Eurocity from Berlin via Poznań to Warsaw and back from 11 to 16 February 2025. On six selected journeys, readings, concerts, dance, talks, performances, workshops and much more was presented in a specially attached culture carriage. Find out more about it here.
Impressions from the Culture Train
