As many, if not most, Gaby Bond fans know, the Ahr valley was devastated by a flash flood in July 2021. Especially upstream from Dernau, via Rech, Mayshoß, Altenahr to Ahrbrück and beyond, the train tracks were completely destroyed and washed away.

There have been huge reconstruction efforts for the whole valley all the way down to Remagen at the the confluence with the Rhein river. For most of 2025, the trains have already been circulating up to the station Walporzheim in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Now just in time for the regular schedule change on 15 December, the Deutsche Bahn (the German rail company) has managed to finish the infrastructure, so that the trains now go all the way up to Ahrbrück. On top of that, they have now switched from diesel to fully electric trains.

Although it must be said, that there are still some limitations or restrictions in place, due to on-going reconstruction efforts. Some parts of the route can only operate with a single track, which limits the frequency of trains because they need to coordinate the crossing of the two-way traffic.

But in general, the inhabitants are very optimistic. And they hope for a resurgence of day tourism and hikers, who had been very important users of the train line.

The public television affiliate SWR has just uploaded a 14:33 minute report to YouTube: Der Wiederaufbau der Ahrtalbahn: Ein Meilenstein nach der Flutkatastrophe. And yes, that report is in German, and [unfortunately] there are no English subtitles or even auto-dubbing available. But if nothing else, you do get to see some lovely landscapes.