The better rail concept

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A postcard issued by the initiative in 1994

The better rail concept is an association from Zapfendorf / Upper Franconia , which, according to its own information, is the umbrella organization of citizens' initiatives for alternative solutions for the construction of the high-speed line Nuremberg – Erfurt as part of the German Unity Transport Project No. 8 (VDE 8). According to its own information, the association had around 800 members in March 2012. In 2000 the initiative won the Bavarian Environment Prize of the Bund Naturschutz.

history

According to its own statements, the initiative was founded on May 16, 1992 in Bamberg as an umbrella association of citizens' initiatives that had already arisen in February 1992 in many places between Fürth and Erfurt against the high-speed route.

Around 5,000 people took part in a demonstration organized by the initiative in Ebensfeld at the beginning of October 1992.

A report by Vieregg-Rössler presented in October 1992 , which had been drawn up on behalf of the citizens' initiative and the Federal Nature Conservation Union , classified the high-speed route as a "huge economic bad investment". A more sensible alternative is therefore the expansion and acceleration of the existing north-south main lines. The expansion of the Nuremberg – JenaLeipzig , Nuremberg– BayreuthHofBerlin , MunichRegensburgHof and StuttgartWürzburgErfurtBerlin axes should instead allow around five million people to enjoy an attractive rail link. According to its own information, the citizens' initiative had collected more than 25,000 signatures against the high-speed route by then. The Berlin – Nuremberg high-speed axis was to run via Bayreuth, Hof and Leipzig and the X2000 tilting technology train was to be used. By making minor track improvements, tilting trains could only achieve insignificantly longer travel times compared to ICE trains on the high-speed line. The “five instead of one” concept is also half the cost of the VDE 8 project and can be implemented in a shorter time. Concentrating on the VDE 8 project means that there is not enough money for the necessary renovation and modernization of other routes.

The initiative acted as the umbrella organization for an action alliance founded in early April 1993 of environmental associations committed against the high-speed route . They campaigned for the plan approval procedure on the high-speed line to be canceled.

In the regional planning procedure for the Bavarian part of the high-speed line, which was completed in May 1993, according to the initiative, the proposed alternative concept was rejected with one sentence despite 30,000 supporting signatures.

When representatives of the initiative wanted to hand over 50,000 collected signatures (according to the initiative) to the then Federal Transport Minister Matthias Wissmann at the end of September 1993 (according to the initiative), only his State Secretary Manfred Carstens appeared.

Another report by Vieregg-Rössler, commissioned by the initiative, criticized the traffic forecasts on which the planning of the high-speed route was based, which was based on the "political wishful thinking of 1991" and the underlying economic growth had already been refuted by a recession . According to its own information, the citizens' initiative had raised more than 100 objections to the high-speed route by then.

In the context of the discussion about the high-speed line from Nuremberg to Munich, the initiative advocated a variant via Augsburg . The Ingolstadt variant would cost DM 2 million to reduce travel time by one second.

In February 1998 the citizens' initiative prepared a constitutional complaint against the high-speed line from Nuremberg to Erfurt.

In September 2007 the initiative submitted another Vieregg-Rössler report. By shifting the beginning of the new line to the north, the ICE connection to Lichtenfels could be retained. Half a billion euros could be saved with a route parallel to the federal motorway 73 to Rödental near Coburg. According to the expert, valley bridges could have been dispensed with with this variant; tunnels would have required two instead of ten kilometers.

By 2010 the initiative had invested around 250,000 euros in legal fees in the fight against the project. By March 2012, it had also held more than 1,000 information events, 144 cultural events and 552 board meetings by its own account.

After the opening of the high-speed line

After the opening of high-speed line in December 2017, the association focused on the statements to expansion plans in the remaining project section between Forchheim and Breitengüßbach and provides for interested citizens from all over Germany one as opposition assistants designated text generator for the formulation of contradictions in the zoning procedures. The association works closely with an expert lawyer from Lichtenfels who is also on the association's board. The current board of the association, which consists of Upper Franconian citizens living near the high-speed route, also coordinates the work on archiving the more than twenty-five years of activity of the citizens' initiative.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. a b The citizens' initiative . In: Fränkischer Tag Obermain, March 2, 2012, p. 14.
  2. a b Traffic monster eats nature . In: Coburger Tageblatt of March 5, 2012, p. 16.
  3. Opponents of the ICE line Nuremberg – Erfurt demonstrated in Ebensfeld against rail plans . In: Nürnberger Nachrichten , October 5, 1992.
  4. Bürgerbahn is supposed to drive ICE to the cart . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 14, 1992.
  5. a b Christian Schneider: Hell noise in the garden of God . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 3, 1994, p. 3.
  6. Peter Schmitt: Federal Railroad on the brake lane . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 14, 1995, p. 56.
  7. Human chains around train stations . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 29, 1993.
  8. billions for environmental destruction . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 13, 1993, p. 35.
  9. Transport minister lets citizens' initiative go . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , October 4, 1993, p. 39.
  10. Red signals for the ICE . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , March 21, 1994, p. 37.
  11. Hansjochen Ostermann: Two million marks for one second . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 16, 1994, p. 55.
  12. ^ Constitutional complaint against the ICE route . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , February 14, 1998, p. 52.
  13. ^ Plea for a cheaper ICE route . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 8, 2007, p. 52.
  14. Marc Felix Serrao: "The train brakes" . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 89, April 16, 2008, p. 37.
  15. ^ Christian Esser, Astrid Randerath : Schwarzbuch Deutsche Bahn , 1st edition, Bertelsmann-Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-570-10036-3 , p. 241 f.
  16. http://www.bahn-einwand.de/index.php?sitevar=formrohling
  17. Relentlessly negotiated, much achieved . In: Obermain-Tagblatt , January 11, 2017, https://www.obermain.de/lokal/bad-staffelstein/art2486,501331