Extension and new line Hanau – Würzburg / Fulda – Erfurt

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The upgraded and new Hanau – Würzburg / Fulda – Erfurt line is the overall high-speed line project that Deutsche Bahn has been pursuing since reunification in 1990.

The best-known and most controversial part of the planned high-speed line is the new section between Gelnhausen and Fulda . When examining the corridor to find the route, a distinction was made between route layers near the Kinzig valley and those crossing the Spessart. The latter includes the "Mottgers-Spange" (also "Nordspessart-Trasse"), which has since been abandoned and which was to be connected to the high-speed line Hanover – Würzburg near Mottgers .

The overall project for the expansion or new construction of the rail infrastructure in the corridor between Frankfurt am Main , Würzburg and Erfurt is included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 with two different variants in the urgency level of urgent need. On the one hand as ABS / NBS Hanau - Würzburg / Fulda - Erfurt , on the other hand as ABS / NBS Hanau - Fulda - Erfurt / Aschaffenburg - Nantenbach . In turn, Deutsche Bahn divides the overall project into several independent projects:

  • the upgraded or new line between Hanau and Nantenbach (so-called "South Corridor" ),
  • the four-track expansion of the existing Kinzig Valley Railway between Hanau and Gelnhausen,
  • the new Gelnhausen – Kalbach line,
  • the upgraded or new line between Fulda and Gerstungen and
  • the completed expansion of the existing Thuringian Railway between Gerstungen, Eisenach and Erfurt for 160 and 200 km / h respectively.

The renovation of the main station in Hanau is a specialty: The renovation of the southern section of the station (tracks 101 to 106) is planned for the period from August to December 2020 and is not part of the above projects. Currently (2018) it is still unclear when the renovation of the northern tracks (tracks 1 to 9) will begin. The timing between the construction projects for the Hanau – Gelnhausen expansion line and the north Main S-Bahn is pending . Both projects concern the renovation of the northern part of the station.

The aim of the overall project is to remove existing bottlenecks and close the gap in the north-south main line. In addition to the creation of additional capacities for passenger and freight traffic, it will also enable travel speeds to be increased.

History of the overall project

1990s

The first planning began in 1991. The planning of the Mottgers-Spange took the place of the originally planned new and upgraded routes between Hanau, Fulda and Erfurt as well as between Aschaffenburg and Nantenbach (with a connection to the Nantenbach curve to Würzburg). In 1992 the Deutsche Bundesbahn presented the first considerations for the routing of a new and upgraded line between Hanau and Erfurt. The ABS / NBS Hanau - Erfurt was included as a new project in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 1992 with an open route .

In May 1999, DB commissioned an auditing company to reassess the project. In addition to the Mottgers brace, Frankfurt 21 , Stuttgart 21 and the new Rhine / Main – Rhine / Neckar line were also part of the test package. It was one of two new building projects to be started as part of the Netz 21 strategy adopted in 1999 .

The new line was registered in May 2000 by Deutsche Bahn for the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003 and included in the state development plan by the State of Hesse . At a cost of 2.65 billion Deutschmarks (price: around 2000), the calculated reduction in travel time in long-distance passenger transport between Frankfurt and Fulda was eight minutes, and between Würzburg and Frankfurt 14 minutes. The line was to leave the Kinzig Valley Railway coming from Hanau at Wächtersbach , facing east and running across the upper Sinntal at Mottgers in both directions of the new Hanover – Würzburg line.

2000s

The state of Hesse already committed to the Mottgers brace in its state development plan in 2000 and no longer considered an expansion variant between Hanau and Fulda.

At the end of 2000 there was a rethink at Deutsche Bahn. Instead of first laying out routes and then checking them for their environmental compatibility, the previous planning should be discarded and new routes should be developed based on ecological aspects. In 2000 the Deutsche Bahn initiated a room sensitivity test . Even before the environmental impact assessment and route planning, acceptable corridors should be found in the ecologically sensitive natural area of ​​the North Spessart. A planning office in Nuremberg was commissioned to investigate two scenarios in more detail: in addition to a multi-track expansion or partial new construction from around Gelnhausen to Fulda (with the Schlüchtern tunnel as a fixed point) in connection with section-wise line improvements between Hanau and the Nantenbacher curve, the second alternative was a new construction of around Gelnhausen to the new Hanover – Würzburg line about 25 km to the east. This new line would have passed Bad Orb to the north and Jossa to the south and should meet the new line coming from Hanover between Mottgers and Burgsinn . With about 1000 m wide examination strips each resulted in two examination rooms with a total area of ​​around 670 square kilometers, of which around 70 percent was in Hesse and the rest in Bavaria.

The results were presented in 2002. The study ultimately resulted in three possible variant corridors between Gelnhausen, Fulda and the Jossa area. Due to very high to extremely high sensitivities, an expansion of the existing route between Hanau and the Nantenbacher curve was not pursued any further. An expansion of the existing route between Frankfurt and Fulda would bring a travel time advantage of eight minutes, the Mottgers brace of nine minutes. Between Frankfurt and Würzburg, an expansion of the existing line should take 9 minutes, the Mottgers brace 18.

Based on the results of the spatial sensitivity study, a number of variants of new and upgraded routes between Hanau, Fulda and Würzburg were developed, which differed in terms of line layout, design speed and longitudinal inclination. Design speeds of 160 to 280 km / h and longitudinal inclines of 12.5, 25 and 40 per thousand were tested. The planning was canceled in 2002. The project was postponed at the end of 2004 due to a lack of funds.

An offer made by regional and local politicians in 2007 to pre-finance planning costs of 25 million euros was not signed by Deutsche Bahn until January 2010. At the beginning of 2009, the first preparations were made for the initiation of the regional planning procedure for the NBS / ABS Hanau – Würzburg / Fulda – Erfurt project. In November 2010, Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer spoke in the Bundestag Transport Committee on the Mottgers brace. The 3.1 billion euro project is not even "planned" and construction work before 2025 is out of the question.

2010s

The 2010 requirement plan review for the traffic route plan projects was based on a four-track expansion of the Hanau – Gelnhausen section for 200 km / h and a new line between Gelnhausen – Mottgers for initially 250 km / h and later 300 km / h.

On October 10, 2012, the Federal Ministry of Transport and DB Netz AG signed a collective agreement on the basic determination and preliminary planning of requirement plans. This also included the Eisenach – Erfurt expansion section, the four-track expansion between Hanau and Gelnhausen and the Mottgers-Spange.

In January 2013, Deutsche Bahn and the Hessian Ministry of Transport announced that they would start further planning and, in the following months, build a project infrastructure that would develop the transport and operational tasks. The municipalities and citizens involved should be involved in the planning at an early stage. The public participation process should not take place before the state elections . The spacious lines are open. In addition to a new line solution (Mottgers-Spange), an expansion of the Hanau – Fulda and Hanau – Würzburg sections is also being considered, according to information from Deutsche Bahn. The preliminary decision should be made in 2017. This is delayed due to outstanding test results (status: 2018) [out of date] .

A project structure was approved in the first half of 2013. The first information events should take place at the end of 2013. According to the Deutsche Bahn, those affected should be comprehensively involved and "the greatest possible transparency" should be created.

One year after resuming planning, Deutsche Bahn said it had formed a planning team and made initial traffic forecasts. In addition, preparations were made for the expansion between Hanau and Gelnhausen. While a large-scale variant test and a regional planning procedure are planned for the route east of Gelnhausen, the section between Hanau and Gelnhausen is to be expanded to include four tracks in any case. No regional planning procedure is planned for this section. This is intended to accelerate the sub-project.

In December 2014, 10,700 signatures collected by the Pro Spessart initiative against the Mottgers brace were handed over to the Federal Minister of Transport. According to information from Deutsche Bahn from the end of 2014, a preliminary decision on the future route could have been made by 2017. This fell on May 3, 2018. Deutsche Bahn does not expect the construction of the new line to start before 2023 Template: future / in 3 years. With the focus on variants IV and VII, variants were no longer pursued by the Spessart, with a connection to Mottgers.

At the end of June 2014, the tender for planning services for preliminary planning was announced across Europe. The award procedure is expected to start on September 1, 2014 and the contract to be awarded should run from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2018 [obsolete] . The expected length for the new line between Gelnhausen and the new line Hanover – Würzburg is given as around 35 to 55 km.

At the end of July 2015, Deutsche Bahn published a spatial impact study with an integrated environmental impact study and FFH preliminary assessment as the basis for the planning approval. The contract covers an area of ​​approximately 600 square kilometers and is expected to run from October 2017 to December 2019 [obsolete] .

Ultimately, seven variants and several combinations derived from them were developed. Three variants (I to III) envisaged a new line through the Spessart with a connection to the new line at Mottgers, four variants (IV to VII) more or less follow the Kinzig valley. At the beginning of May 2018, the decision was made not to build the Mottgers brace leading through the Spessart. At this point in time, two route variants (IV and VII) were still in the planning process. They are 44 km and 48 km long, with a tunnel length of 28 km.

Variants IV and VII were considered to be preferred variants, as they were expected to have the lowest impact on humans, animals and the environment, reduced travel times and could be linked to the existing network in Schlüchtern and Flieden. The variant V, however, was u. a. due to the great noise effects, the proximity to a spa area and a longer construction period not pursued. Variants III and VI would have impaired a limestone fen near Altengronau or the habitat of certain bird species. The Spessart variants I and II were eliminated due to the high risks of species protection law.

Political and other stakeholders from the East Hesse region spoke out in May 2018 for the implementation of variant IV.

Sub-projects

ABS / NBS Hanau – Nantenbach

Map of the Hanau – Würzburg / Fulda construction project with variants of the Gelnhausen – Fulda line. The current preferred variant is variant IV with an eastern bypass of the Kinzig reservoir.

According to a feasibility study presented in February 2018, travel time reductions of up to 6.4 minutes should be achievable between Hanau and Nantenbach, whereby - in addition to expansion measures - an approximately 15 km long new building between Heigenbrücken and Nantenbach is necessary.

Four-track expansion of the Kinzigtalbahn Hanau – Gelnhausen

Between Hanau and Gelnhausen, the expansion of the existing line from three to four tracks is planned.

The project is divided into seven plan approval sections. The start of construction is scheduled for 2025, the commissioning in two stages in 2030 and 2036. The first construction phase includes the Gelnhausen Ost to Langenselbold Ost line (route kilometers 35.22; near the Hasselbach Bridge ) and the second the section to Hanau Hbf .

NBS Gelnhausen – Kalbach

On June 15, 2018, Deutsche Bahn announced that route variant IV should be included in the regional planning procedure. The variant stands out “after weighing all the advantages and disadvantages of the route variants examined [as] the best solution”, according to the DB. In addition to the comparatively lower environmental impact, the possibility of early partial commissioning of the Schlüchtern – Kalbach section (to relieve the existing bottleneck Flieden – Fulda) and the proximity to the federal motorway 66 are advantageous. Almost two thirds of the 44 km long route runs in tunnels; longer bridges are planned over the Kinzig valley (near Wächtersbach), the Riedbach valley and the Kinzig reservoir. At Schlüchtern the connection with the existing line is planned, at Mittelkalbach with the new line Hanover – Würzburg. The shortest travel time in passenger traffic between Frankfurt main station and Fulda is to be reduced from 51 to 39 minutes. A technical residual risk existed in the reservoir crossing . In November 2018, the decision was made in favor of the eastern bypass.

The dialogue forum should deal with the optimization of variant IV in the future. The documents for the regional planning procedure should be drawn up and submitted by the beginning of 2019. The plan approval procedure is then planned.

The regional planning procedure for the NBS Gelnhausen - Kalbach was applied for on May 16, 2020. An early public participation is to be concluded by May 31, 2020. From June 2 to September 30, 2020, it will be possible to submit comments - for the first time in Hessen also online. Technical planning is scheduled to begin in 2022. Deutsche Bahn expects the planning approval between 2027 and 2030. The construction time is expected to be more than five years.

ABS / NBS Fulda-Gerstungen

Search area of ​​the expansion and new construction project Fulda – Gerstungen and the existing expansion line Eisenach – Erfurt.

Between Gerstungen and Fulda, a new line is to be built at least in sections to link it to the high-speed line Hanover – Würzburg near Bad Hersfeld , for which the route search began in June 2018.

A route via Bebra was excluded because such a route does not allow sufficiently short travel times for the Germany cycle.

Expansion of the Thuringian Railway Gerstungen – Erfurt

The first measures to upgrade this section of the route were the expansion of the route between Eisenach and Erfurt for a maximum speed of 200 km / h and between Gerstungen and Eisenach for 160 km / h, which were about to be completed in 2018. The section between Eisenach and Erfurt has been equipped with ETCS since August 2018 .

technology

For train protection , the line is to be equipped with ETCS Level 2 ( Baseline 3 ), possibly without conventional light signals .

financing

The financing of the project is secured. It is included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003 with an estimated cost of 3.14 billion euros. However, it was not included in the Federal Railways Expansion Act (BSchwAG) in the version of April 27, 2005. The BSchwAG (Annex 1 to Section 1, No. 16) provides for the construction of a new or upgraded line for the Hanau – Nantenbach section.

In 2012, the "ABS / NBS Hanau - Würzburg / Fulda - Erfurt" was included in the federal investment framework plan for the years 2011 to 2015 in category D ("Other important projects"), without any commitment to the Mottgers brace would.

The project is included in the "Urgent Needs" of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ ABS / NBS Hanau - Würzburg / Fulda - Erfurt. Retrieved November 11, 2018 .
  2. ^ ABS / NBS Hanau - Fulda - Erfurt / Aschaffenburg - Nantenbach. Retrieved November 11, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c d 19th Dialogue Forum, May 4th, 2020, online. (PDF) ABS / NBS Hanau - Fulda. In: hanau-wuerzburg-fulda.de. DB Netz, May 4, 2020, pp. 8, 20, 22, 25, 33 , accessed on May 13, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Upcoming reconstruction of the main station. Retrieved November 11, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b Deutsche Bahn and the Hessian Ministry of Transport provide information on the current status of the project - comprehensive public participation ensured. (No longer available online.) Hessian Ministry of Economics, Transport and Regional Development, January 30, 2013, formerly in the original ; accessed on January 31, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.wirtschaft.hessen.de
  6. ↑ a b c d e Bahn gives priority to the environment. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , November 21, 2000.
  7. ↑ Annual review 1992 . In: The Federal Railroad . tape 69 , no. 1 , 1993, ISSN  0007-5876 , pp. 56 .
  8. ↑ Consulting firm examines the "Frankfurt 21" project . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 122 , May 29, 1999, pp. 73 .
  9. ↑ Change of strategy: the route network will be completely modernized by 2010 . In: Railway technical review . tape 48 , 1999, ISSN  0013-2845 , pp. 583 .
  10. ↑ a b c Ingmar Gorissen: Room sensitivity test in the Gleisdreieck Hanau / Fulda / Würzburg . In: The Railway Engineer . tape 53 , no. 4 , April 2002, ISSN  0013-2810 , p. 34-36 .
  11. ↑ a b Outrage over the railway simulation game. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , January 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ a b c Manfred Köhler: This time the railway wants to do everything right . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 99 , 2013, ISSN  0174-4909 , p. 33 ( online ).
  13. ^ A b route to Fulda as a project of the century . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 29 , February 4, 2014, ISSN  0174-4909 , p. 33 (similar version online ).
  14. ^ Klaus Ott: Bahn pushes and deletes 141 projects . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . No. 296 , December 20, 2004, ISSN  0174-4917 , p. 24 .
  15. ↑ German Bundestag: Implementation of projects for the new construction, expansion and maintenance of federal railways in Bavaria (PDF; 134 kB). Answer of the Federal Government to the small question of the MPs Dr. Anton Hofreiter, Bettina Herlitzius, Winfried Hermann, other MPs and the Alliance 90 / THE GREENS parliamentary group. Printed matter 16/11730 of January 27, 2009.
  16. ^ Ministry of Transport justifies the new Ulm-Wendlingen line. Retrieved November 17, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Rainer Reichert: Old rail project newly planned - ICE discontinuation in Aschaffenburg not yet an issue . Main network , January 31, 2013.
  18. ↑ Preliminary decision on ICE route is getting closer . FAZ.NET, January 17, 2015.
  19. ↑ Final route decision still open. In: hanau-wuerzburg-fulda.de. Retrieved March 8, 2018 .
  20. ↑ a b Deutsche Bahn AG (Ed.): Information and dialogue are the focus when planning the upgraded / new line Hanau – Würzburg / Fulda (–Erfurt) . Press release from July 5, 2013.
  21. ↑ a b Preliminary decision on ICE route is approaching . In: Rhein-Main-Zeitung . No. 37 , January 14, 2015, p. 37 ( online ).
  22. ↑ https://www.hanau-wuerzburg-fulda.de/aktuell/varianten-iv-und-vii- haben-vertieft-sehen-alle-anderen-scheiden- aus.html
  23. ↑ a b c d e Preferred variant for the new Gelnhausen - Fulda line has been determined . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . No. 10 , October 2018, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 544 .
  24. ↑ Germany-Frankfurt am Main: Services of architecture, construction and engineering offices and test centers . Document 2014 / S 121-216155 of June 27, 2014 in the supplement to the Electronic Official Journal of the European Union .
  25. ^ Germany-Frankfurt am Main: environmental planning . Document 2015 / S 139-257509 of July 22, 2015 in the supplement to the Electronic Official Journal of the European Union .
  26. ^ Mottgers: Railway excludes route through Spessart . In: Main-Echo , May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  27. ↑ Vote: Route variant IV for rail expansion Gelnhausen-Fulda . On: welt.de , May 14, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  28. ^ Reinhard Domke: Dialog forum Hanau-Würzburg / Fulda. (PDF) 4th meeting of the working group “Conception / Improvement of the South Corridor”. In: hanau-wuerzburg-fulda.de. DB Netz, February 1, 2018, pp. 10, 11, 14, 15 , accessed on May 12, 2018 .
  29. ↑ DB goes into the regional planning procedure with variant IV . On: www.hanau-wuerzburg-fulda.de , June 15, 2018. Accessed June 16, 2018.
  30. ^ NBS Gelnhausen – Fulda: East bypass of the Kinzig reservoir is best . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , 1/2019, p. 3.
  31. ↑ Alexander Gies: Railway line between Gelnhausen and Fulda: Up to 1000 workers on duty at the same time. In: fuldaerzeitung.de. April 29, 2020, accessed May 1, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Presentation to the 6th meeting of the participation forum. DB Netz AG, March 19, 2020, accessed on July 28, 2020 .
  33. ↑ European Train Control System (ETCS) at DB Netz AG. (PDF) (No longer available online.) DB Netz , April 2014, p. 10 , archived from the original on June 14, 2015 ; accessed on December 30, 2015 .
  34. ↑ Posch celebrates “breakthrough” . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 74 , March 27, 2012, p. 41 .
  35. ^ German Bundestag (ed.): Drucksache 17/10356 . July 20, 2012, p. 3 ( online, PDF ).