Liver plan

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The Leber Plan (officially the program for the recovery of the German transport system or, more simply, the transport policy program for the years 1968 to 1972 ) is colloquially known as a basic transport policy program for the Federal Republic of Germany presented on September 22, 1967 by the then Federal Transport Minister Georg Leber  ( SPD ) .

background

According to his own statements, in the nine months between taking office and the publication of the basic program, Leber first explored the situation in the German transport system, then developed possible solutions and discussed them in depth with key groups, and finally explored whether a German transport policy would also match a European one Transport policy can be synchronized. After all, the federal government's medium-term financial plan submitted 14 days before publication had to be awaited.

In road traffic, the number of passenger cars rose from 4 million (in 1960) to 10.3 million (at the end of 1966). 20 million cars were expected for 1980. In 1966, 16,800 people were fatally injured in German road traffic. 423,000 people were slightly to seriously injured; the economic damage was estimated at 7 billion DM. Between 1950 and 1966, DM 88 billion was invested in road construction. With the exception of the United States , no more roads were built in any other country in the world around 1967.

There was a need for action at the Deutsche Bundesbahn after the company no longer had a balanced operating result from around 1960 and finally needed three billion DM in public grants in 1967. 2000 people were busy with the maintenance of tens of thousands of parked freight cars alone.

In Lebers’s opinion, inland shipping was marked by pronounced excess capacities. In many cases, the fuel costs were just redeemed.

The seaports suffered from severe distortion of competition from competitors, including the mineral oil tax on marine fuel, which is unusual in neighboring countries . In addition, natural conditions would have made the German halves of the lake unattractive.

In aviation, Deutsche Lufthansa had deficits until 1965. A balance sheet profit of DM 42 million, which was first achieved in 1966, was too low in view of the billions in investments required for the emerging wide-body aircraft . The airports should also have prepared for this new generation of aircraft.

aims

In view of the steadily increasing load on the federal German road network, Leber pursued the plan to dampen the growth of road traffic and at the same time to use underutilized railway capacities. Road construction remained a core part of his policy.

He formulated the following goals that should be achieved within five years:

  • Transport should ensure the population's demand for transport services at reasonable prices.
  • All modes of transport should act economically independently and compete with the modes of transport without public aid and without deficit compensation.
  • In the free competition of the modes of transport, tasks should be shared which should take into account the natural conditions and capabilities of the individual modes of transport.
  • Great importance should be attached to good and modern operation of the area.
  • The interaction of the individual modes of transport in combined transport should be ensured.
  • The transport network should be geared towards future needs. Accordingly, the road construction work should be continued at a high level.
  • Road safety should be improved through educational, technical, legislative and administrative measures.

Measures (extract)

Most of the measures were intended for road traffic. For example, the quotas for commercial freight transport should not be expanded and motor vehicles with a payload of less than 4000 kg should be exempt from transport tax. In addition, 3 to 5 pfennig transport tax per tonne-kilometer in long-distance works and 1 pfennig per tonne-kilometer in long-distance commercial goods transport should be levied. Certain bulk and heavy cargo transports were to be temporarily prohibited from July 1, 1970 and the corresponding permit quota reduced. Incentives to increase the use of smaller vehicles should be removed and the concession system adjusted accordingly in such a way that no increase in capacity occurs. The minimum engine output should be increased from 6 to 8 HP per ton and measures to reduce air pollution and to reduce noise in motor vehicles should be taken. Last but not least, European road traffic regulations should be enacted.

The federal government should continue to advocate an interim solution to the problem of infrastructure costs in inland waterways and road traffic.

The deficit of the Deutsche Bundesbahn should be eliminated. The federal government should essentially only pay for external and political burdens. The company should save 82,000 employees. DB's passenger traffic should be strengthened. In particular, the comfort of the passenger trains should be increased and transport associations created in the metropolitan areas . At the same time, a total of 6500 km of low-traffic routes should be completely or partially closed; A licensing procedure was planned for the border areas .

The railroad should remain the backbone of inland freight transport. In the general cargo traffic of the railway only 1000 general cargo stations were to be served, but at the same time the combined traffic with over 550 transshipment stations should be expanded. The construction of sidings should receive financial support. Initially, 250 million DM were earmarked for industrial siding. Due to great demand, this budget was increased to 1.7 billion DM by 1970. Several hundred new sidings had been approved by 1970. They should be completed by 1974.

In air traffic, federal participation in the construction and expansion of airports should be limited to Berlin-Tempelhof and Tegel, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg-Kaltenkirchen, Cologne-Bonn and Munich 2 airports. The market should be liberalized, while Lufthansa’s profitability should be ensured. The introduction of the principle of flight path costs was also indicated.

A long-term capacity regulation should be introduced for inland waterway transport, possibly with regulation of the construction of new inland waterways. Medium-sized shipping companies should z. B. to merge into cooperatives and get the right to operate like shipowners . The transport charges should be stabilized by various measures. In maritime transport, liberalization should be promoted, distortions of competition to the detriment of German seaports eliminated and safety increased.

Further measures were planned to link the modes of transport. Combined transport was to be strengthened, among other things, by concentrating large container transport by rail and giving tax breaks to piggyback transport. Finally, long-distance works traffic should also be permitted as piggyback traffic. The Passenger Transport Act should be amended and regional concessions introduced. This should improve passenger traffic in the area. A closer cooperation between the Federal Railroad and the Federal Post Office in bus transport was sought.

A federal traffic route program for rail, road, waterway and air traffic should be drawn up in order to better connect conurbations, industrial centers and ports and to relieve the traffic routes in metropolitan areas. The traffic conditions in municipalities should be improved as part of a multi-year program to be drawn up jointly by the federal and state governments .

history

With the so-called traffic change laws of 1961, traffic in the Federal Republic of Germany was liberalized.

After taking office, the new Transport Minister Georg Leber promised at the end of 1966 that he would develop an overall concept for transport policy. To do this, he first had an inventory of the problems in his house made. Building on this, he gave stakeholders the opportunity to comment. The ministry then produced an internal picture of the future of the German transport system. The measures derived from this were initially only known to a small group of people. The planned measures were initially discussed behind closed doors with other ministries. Even in the run-up to its publication, there was speculation about the possible content of the plan. The already inaugurated Federal Chancellor Kiesinger described the program as a “generous reorganization of traffic”, while Leber repeatedly emphasized that there would be “tears for all those affected”.

The program was made public in October 1967. It was expected that the discussions about this would shape German domestic politics over the next few months.

In the spring of 1968, Leber was depressed about the tensions in the governing coalition that had arisen as a result of his basic program and the massive opposition that was met with him in parliament. No Bundestag committee has yet begun individual deliberations on its submission. As a result of this standstill, among other things, long-distance works transport, which was exempt from transport tax from January 1, 1968, was 20 percent cheaper than in the previous year. Chancellor Kiesinger criticized this standstill in his speech at the second reading of the federal budget in 1968 on April 2, 1968. Neither the Leber Plan nor an alternative plan by the CDU transport politician Ernst Müller-Hermann had a majority in parliament. The fear was repeatedly expressed that Leber might resign due to the CDU / CSU resistance to his transport policy program. On April 4, 1968, the German Bundestag asked the federal government to present the federal transport infrastructure program called for in the Leber Plan. This resulted in the 1973 Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan, the first Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan.

In contrast, the planned transport ban in long-distance road haulage for 48 groups of goods and the renewed introduction of a transport tax in road haulage caused intense discussions . On June 25, 1968, the coalition parties agreed to provide around 250 million DM annually for the market-oriented shift of traffic from road to rail in place of the “prohibited list” initially provided for in the Leber Plan. Such bans had already been rejected under Federal Transport Minister Seebohm .

In the further course, the criticism focused on the planned transport tax law. Freight transport companies and top business organizations fought bitterly against this taxation. In the meantime, numerous regional and sectoral exemptions were planned, for which the CSU in particular had advocated , before these were limited by a coalition resolution to the border areas, the freight aid areas and Berlin; In terms of sectors, individual goods were excluded. The expected revenue from the Transport Tax Act, which came into force on January 1, 1969, was around 370 million DM annually. Without exception regulations, the revenue would have been around 470 million DM.

At the end of 1968 the program was approved and adopted. According to Lebers, 80 percent of the content of the program was undisputed, while the rest was fought over. With this, a transport tax was also decided, which should be converted into a road user fee based on the road costs. The Federal Railroad Act, which was amended in the course of the decision, was to be comprehensively changed in 1969 and a corporate concept to be developed for the period after 1972 should be prepared. Comprehensive reforms of inland waterway and truck traffic were also to be initiated in 1969. Preparations for the restructuring of the Bundesbahn had already come a long way.

According to Lebers, more uneconomical railway lines were shut down between the announcement and the decision of the program than in all previous years.

On January 1, 1969, the state railway had agreed to transport goods that were previously on a prohibited list in combined traffic at transshipment stations . The total transport price should not be higher than the Reichskraftwagentarif , so that the consignor and recipient who are outside the rail network are disadvantaged.

In his government declaration of October 28, 1969, the new Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt explained detailed intentions for the transport policy of the 6th legislative period (1969–1973). Lebers basic program should therefore be continued and further developed.

literature

  • Georg Leber: Program for the recovery of the German traffic system . Reprint from the bulletin of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, ISSN  0342-5754 , No. 103/1967.
  • Christopher Kopper : The railway in the economic miracle: Deutsche Bundesbahn and transport policy in post-war society (=  contributions to historical transport research . Volume 9 ). Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-593-38328-6 , p. 399-431 .
  • Walter Hamm: The Leber Plan - a brake on growth: economic policy contradictions in the federal government's transport program . Frankfurt am Main, 1968.
  • DB and Leber Plan: Objections – Answers . Frankfurt am Main, 1968.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Effects of the Leber Plan on the Saarland . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 3/4/1968, p. 131.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Leber defends his transport reform . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 20/1967, pp. 766-771.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Georg Leber: Program for the recovery of the German transport system . Reprint from the bulletin of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, ISSN  0342-5754 , No. 103/1967, pp. 5–12.
  4. ↑ a b c New directions in transport policy . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 21/22/1968, pp. 795-799.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Joachim Weskott: Task of the DB in the liver plan under the focus of spatial planning . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 19/20/1968, pp. 737-741.
  6. ↑ Leber Plan and non-federal railways . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 7/1968, p. 250.
  7. ^ Hans-Martin Heuschele: A train station under the main train station . In: Stuttgarter Nachrichten . No. 202 , August 27, 1970, pp. 17 .
  8. ^ Railway department in the BVM under new management . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 16/1968, pp. 581-584.
  9. ↑ a b traffic review . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 19/1967, pp. 720–723.
  10. ↑ Kiesinger and Leber to the Bundestag . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 8/1968, pp. 271-276.
  11. ^ Dieter Glück, Hans Peter Weber: Federal traffic route plan '85: area of ​​rail traffic . In: Railway technical review . tape 34 , no. 12 , 1985, ISSN  0013-2845 , pp. 889-893 .
  12. ↑ a b c d e Transport policy program approved . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 24/1968, pp. 937-940.
  13. ↑ Leber and Börner set the course . In: Die Bundesbahn , ISSN  0007-5876 , 23/1969, pp. 1147–1151.