The Wolfsburg-Berlin section was built as a new line and runs largely parallel to the Lehrter Bahn (the old Berlin-Hanover railway) opened in 1871.

[2] Options available were: In 1990 the northern route was chosen; it was the shortest and fastest connection between Berlin and Hanover and was used by the long-distance high-speed trains before World War II.

On 28 June 1990 the transport ministers of the two still separate Germans States, Horst Gibtner and Friedrich Zimmermann signed an agreement to build a high-speed line along the existing Lehrtebahn, following two years of negotiations.

During the building phase, archaeologists carried out approximately 4,000 digs in Brandenburg and made discoveries in 30 places, including finds of some objects that were over 1,500 years old.

[4] East of Rathenow, near Buckow, the line runs by the 6,400 ha (16,000-acre) nature reserve of Havelländisches Luch.

There were extensive discussions until 1995 in relation to measures to protect the birds, including consideration of the building of a 6-kilometre-long (3.7 mi) tunnel for approximately DM one billion.

The whole new line was officially opened on 15 September 1998 by the Chancellor Helmut Kohl, DB boss Johannes Ludewig and Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen.

In Berlin Ostbahnhof the opening ICE was officially named the “Claus Graf Stauffenberg”, before it ran to Hanover via Stendal and Wolfsburg as ICE18952.

The drastic travel time reduction on the new line led to rising passenger numbers, as a result of the cancellation of the competing air services between Berlin and Hanover.

With the opening of the high-speed line, the two state capitals of Magdeburg and Potsdam lost their ICE connections.

As a consequence there were violent protests, which led for some time to the reinstatement of occasional ICEs between Berlin and Wolfsburg on the old line.