That train on the Hamburg Berlin line doing extra stops is an IC, which is a loco hauled 200 km/h train, compared to all other trains which are high speed rail

That train on the Hamburg Berlin line doing extra stops is an IC, which is a loco hauled 200 km/h train, compared to all other trains which are high speed rail sets running 230km/h. The slower trains aren’t publicly organised, they are for-profit services operated by the German railways inc. like virtually all other IC and ICE services. The German railways are owned by the federal government, meaning there is political influence into the system, but it’s pretty indirect for local politicians. One thing to consider is that these services may be historic as well. Removing them will burn a lot of good will, which may be expensive in the long run for an operator that is dependent on ongoing public support - even if day-to-day decisions are made independently with economic interests in mind. Compare he marginal cost of providing those stops. Also consider that while Hamburg-Berlin may have a lot of competition from other modes, the small towns may not. Also, most ppl in those small cities will be close to the rail station. Add to that that ppl from surrounding regions will use the stops to get … basically anywhere by train, and you have a bunch of factors that my result in higher ridership than u would expect just by looking at the population of the cities themselves.