diff --git a/opm/core/simulator/AdaptiveTimeStepping_impl.hpp b/opm/core/simulator/AdaptiveTimeStepping_impl.hpp
index 56a11dec..33d92d90 100644
--- a/opm/core/simulator/AdaptiveTimeStepping_impl.hpp
+++ b/opm/core/simulator/AdaptiveTimeStepping_impl.hpp
@@ -95,6 +95,10 @@ namespace Opm {
             const double decayrate  = param.getDefault("timestep.control.decayrate",  double(0.75) );
             const double growthrate = param.getDefault("timestep.control.growthrate", double(1.25) );
             timeStepControl_ = TimeStepControlType( new SimpleIterationCountTimeStepControl( iterations, decayrate, growthrate ) );
+        } else if ( control == "hardcoded") {
+            const std::string filename    = param.getDefault("timestep.control.filename", std::string("timesteps"));
+            timeStepControl_ = TimeStepControlType( new HardcodedTimeStepControl( filename ) );
+
         }
         else
             OPM_THROW(std::runtime_error,"Unsupported time step control selected "<< control );
@@ -202,7 +206,7 @@ namespace Opm {
 
                 // compute new time step estimate
                 double dtEstimate =
-                    timeStepControl_->computeTimeStepSize( dt, linearIterations, relativeChange );
+                    timeStepControl_->computeTimeStepSize( dt, linearIterations, relativeChange, substepTimer.simulationTimeElapsed());
 
                 // limit the growth of the timestep size by the growth factor
                 dtEstimate = std::min( dtEstimate, double(max_growth_ * dt) );
diff --git a/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControl.cpp b/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControl.cpp
index e7d11043..a6787191 100644
--- a/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControl.cpp
+++ b/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControl.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
 #include <cmath>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <stdexcept>
+#include <string>
+#include <fstream>
+#include <iostream>
 
 #include <opm/common/ErrorMacros.hpp>
 #include <opm/core/utility/Units.hpp>
@@ -55,7 +58,7 @@ namespace Opm
     }
 
     double SimpleIterationCountTimeStepControl::
-    computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& /* relativeChange */ ) const
+    computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& /* relativeChange */, const double /*simulationTimeElapsed */) const
     {
         double dtEstimate = dt ;
 
@@ -74,6 +77,37 @@ namespace Opm
         return dtEstimate;
     }
 
+    ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+    //
+    //  HardcodedTimeStepControl Implementation
+    //
+    ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+
+    HardcodedTimeStepControl::
+    HardcodedTimeStepControl( const std::string& filename)
+    {
+        std::ifstream infile (filename);
+        if (!infile.is_open()) {
+            OPM_THROW(std::runtime_error,"Incorrect or no filename is provided to the hardcodedTimeStep. Use timestep.control.filename=your_file_name");
+        }
+        std::string::size_type sz;
+        std::string line;
+        while ( std::getline(infile, line)) {
+            if( line[0] != '-') { // ignore lines starting with '-'
+                const double time = std::stod(line,&sz); // read the first number i.e. the actual substep time
+                subStepTime_.push_back( time * unit::day );
+            }
+
+        }
+    }
+
+    double HardcodedTimeStepControl::
+    computeTimeStepSize( const double /*dt */, const int /*iterations */, const RelativeChangeInterface& /* relativeChange */ , const double simulationTimeElapsed) const
+    {
+        auto nextTime = std::upper_bound(subStepTime_.begin(), subStepTime_.end(), simulationTimeElapsed);
+        return (*nextTime - simulationTimeElapsed);
+    }
+
 
 
     ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -90,7 +124,7 @@ namespace Opm
     {}
 
     double PIDTimeStepControl::
-    computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int /* iterations */, const RelativeChangeInterface& relChange ) const
+    computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int /* iterations */, const RelativeChangeInterface& relChange, const double /*simulationTimeElapsed */) const
     {
         // shift errors
         for( int i=0; i<2; ++i ) {
@@ -141,9 +175,9 @@ namespace Opm
     {}
 
     double PIDAndIterationCountTimeStepControl::
-    computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& relChange ) const
+    computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& relChange,  const double simulationTimeElapsed ) const
     {
-        double dtEstimate = BaseType :: computeTimeStepSize( dt, iterations, relChange );
+        double dtEstimate = BaseType :: computeTimeStepSize( dt, iterations, relChange, simulationTimeElapsed);
 
         // further reduce step size if to many iterations were used
         if( iterations > target_iterations_ )
diff --git a/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControl.hpp b/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControl.hpp
index ec14ddbe..00a82d74 100644
--- a/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControl.hpp
+++ b/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControl.hpp
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ namespace Opm
                                              const bool verbose = false);
 
         /// \brief \copydoc TimeStepControlInterface::computeTimeStepSize
-        double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& /* relativeChange */ ) const;
+        double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& /* relativeChange */, const double /*simulationTimeElapsed */ ) const;
 
     protected:
         const int     target_iterations_;
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ namespace Opm
                             const bool verbose = false );
 
         /// \brief \copydoc TimeStepControlInterface::computeTimeStepSize
-        double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int /* iterations */, const RelativeChangeInterface& relativeChange ) const;
+        double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int /* iterations */, const RelativeChangeInterface& relativeChange, const double /*simulationTimeElapsed */ ) const;
 
     protected:
         const double tol_;
@@ -111,12 +111,36 @@ namespace Opm
                                              const bool verbose = false);
 
         /// \brief \copydoc TimeStepControlInterface::computeTimeStepSize
-        double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& relativeChange ) const;
+        double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& relativeChange, const double /*simulationTimeElapsed */ ) const;
 
     protected:
         const int     target_iterations_;
     };
 
+    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+    ///
+    ///  HardcodedTimeStepControl
+    ///  Input generated from summary file using the ert application:
+    ///
+    ///  ecl_summary DECK TIME > filename
+    ///
+    ///  Assumes time is given in days
+    ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
+    class HardcodedTimeStepControl : public TimeStepControlInterface
+    {
+    public:
+        /// \brief constructor
+        /// \param filename   filename contaning the timesteps
+        explicit HardcodedTimeStepControl( const std::string& filename);
+
+        /// \brief \copydoc TimeStepControlInterface::computeTimeStepSize
+        double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int /* iterations */, const RelativeChangeInterface& /*relativeChange */, const double simulationTimeElapsed) const;
+
+    protected:
+        // store the time (in days) of the substeps the simulator should use
+        std::vector<double> subStepTime_;
+    };
+
 
 } // end namespace Opm
 #endif
diff --git a/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControlInterface.hpp b/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControlInterface.hpp
index 2aee5aeb..bdab5e3a 100644
--- a/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControlInterface.hpp
+++ b/opm/core/simulator/TimeStepControlInterface.hpp
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ namespace Opm
         /// \param timeError   object to compute || u^n+1 - u^n || / || u^n+1 ||
         ///
         /// \return suggested time step size for the next step
-        virtual double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& relativeChange ) const = 0;
+        virtual double computeTimeStepSize( const double dt, const int iterations, const RelativeChangeInterface& relativeChange , const double simulationTimeElapsed) const = 0;
 
         /// virtual destructor (empty)
         virtual ~TimeStepControlInterface () {}