The direct route would be through NRW, but the one this train takes is going further south via Erfurt-Frankfurt-Strasbourg. Strasbourg has a proper hsr on the French site, which helps a lot. It technically would be faster to go via Cologne and Brussels, but that would cause a lot of problems.
For the current route the big missing section is between Mannheim-Frankfurt-Erfurt. There are plans for it, which are being pushed right now.
The direct route would be through NRW, but the one this train takes is going further south via Erfurt-Frankfurt-Strasbourg. Strasbourg has a proper hsr on the French site, which helps a lot. It technically would be faster to go via Cologne and Brussels, but that would cause a lot of problems.
For the current route the big missing section is between Mannheim-Frankfurt-Erfurt. There are plans for it, which are being pushed right now.
Makes sense. I was thinking of the old non-direct route.