Transport projects German unity

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Transport projects for German unity (overview map)
Logo of the transport projects German unity

The Transport Projects German Unity ( VDE ) are large-scale construction projects for traffic connections between East and West Germany as a result of German unity . This promised to have a direct positive impact on regional planning and infrastructure in the new federal states and across the former inner-German border (see also the border area ).

background

The German Democratic Republic had invested since the 1970s only selectively on a larger scale in its transport infrastructure. Many highways, roads and railways were neglected by the standard of construction at the level of the 1940s (with partly makeshift repairs in the 1950s.) And strong: highways , the counterparts to the national highway , were still in 1990 mainly due to the country over long distances paved and had numerous potholes.

Autobahn in the GDR (1981)

The highways were essentially prewar. Exceptions were, among other things, the six-lane expansion of a short section of the southern Berliner Ring and the largest section of the A 24 Hamburg – Berlin, which cost 1.2 billion D-Marks (around EUR 1.2 billion in today's currency) from the Federal Republic financed and completed in 1982. The GDR, however, had hardly invested in the former Reichsautobahn routes such as the A 2, A 4 or A 9. In 1990 they had their original cross-section over long stretches (often without hard shoulder ) and the original, meanwhile very damaged road surface. There were no acceleration or deceleration lanes at junctions , and a continuous protective central barrier was missing on long stretches. The West German feeder lines had been brought up to a certain standard over the years, but had led a shadowy existence for decades.

The railroad was the most important means of transport in the East - the Reichsbahn carried more goods than the Bundesbahn on a network half as long - but speeds were low, and despite great efforts in the 1980s, electrification was still not at the same level as the West and many Lines were second and third tracks that had been dismantled by the Soviet Union in the 1940s as reparations and not yet rebuilt.

In order to achieve the Western European level, a completely new construction of the motorway routes in the accession area on October 3, 1990 was necessary: ​​First, a completely new one- way carriageway was built next to the existing route . After its completion, all traffic was then temporarily diverted to this. Then the old Reichsautobahn route was completely removed and then a second lane was built in its place. The GDR's railway network was also affected by the decades-long shortage economy. The replacement of sleepers , as well as the repair of switches and drainage pipes, for example , had been postponed again and again. To make matters worse, faulty concrete mixes had been built into sleepers for many years, and so-called concrete cancer made them unusable much earlier than planned. Speed ​​limits were the rule. The railway lines in the GDR were often much slower to drive around in 1989 than in the 1930s. In 1933 , the Fliegender Hamburger express railcar on the Berlin-Hamburg Railway took 138 minutes for the Hamburg – Berlin route, while a typical express train covered the distance in 243 minutes in 1989. In addition, as reparation for war damage to the Soviet Union after the Second World War, the second track was removed on almost all lines and only replaced on a few main lines later. Likewise, all electrifications were reversed and - especially in the 1970s - only hesitantly rebuilt. The frequent use of steam locomotives even after the official end of steam operation in 1987 in the so-called " plan steam " was also due to the low line speeds and the lack of diesel.

With the fall of the wall and the opening of the borders in Europe, especially in Germany and other countries on the former Iron Curtain , the main traffic flows in the north-south direction were added to the growing traffic flows on the west-east routes. In West Germany the north-south direction still dominates (Rheinschiene and Hamburg – Stuttgart / Munich), but since 1989 the importance of the historical east-west axes and the north-south connection between Bavaria and Thuringia / Saxony has increased. A traffic explosion broke out over the GDR traffic network, which had been neglected for decades and was slumbering in a deep slumber. The number of road deaths soared. This affected all road categories , but especially in the area of ​​the federal highways with west-east course, so far relatively quiet streets, the VDE program should minimize the number of accident black spots. In addition to the expansion of the existing routes, an important reason for the VDE program was the consolidation of the route network between the countries of the accession area and the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Hesse and Bavaria.

All 17 projects are under construction or have already been completed.

history

On January 9, 1990, the constituent meeting of the German-German traffic infrastructure commission took place in East Berlin , which dealt with cross-border traffic connections and medium and long-term traffic route planning in road and air traffic. On October 3, 1990, Germany was reunified.

In January 1991 Günther Krause took up the post of Federal Minister of Transport and initiated an inventory of the traffic situation in the new federal states. This resulted in the German Unity Transport Projects. On April 9, 1991, the Federal Transport Minister presented the VDE program to the cabinet, which it adopted in anticipation of the 1992 Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan. The VDE projects are shown separately in this plan. The projects found their way into it without reassessment.

In order to realize all projects within a decade as far as possible, two private project companies were founded outside of the previous authority structures: Deutsche Einheit Fernstraßenplanungs- und -bau GmbH (DEGES) and Planungsgesellschaft Bahnbau Deutsche Einheit (PBDE). At the end of 1991, Federal Transport Minister Krause expected the completion of all VDE projects by the year 2000.

German Unity Transport Project No. 16, Thuringian Forest Autobahn A 71
Erfurt – Schweinfurt, 2002 under construction

In January 1992 the information campaign New ways needs the country. Now! with which the VDE projects should be presented to the citizens of the new federal states.

By the end of 1994 around ten billion DM (5.1 billion euros) had been invested in the VDE projects. In December 1991, the Traffic Route Planning Acceleration Act came into force to accelerate the planning of VDE projects. On December 1, 1993, the first of several investment measure laws followed , which were intended to replace plan approval procedures in sections of the VDE projects .

The project volume of the VDE projects was put at 56 billion DM (28.6 billion euros) in 1991. Of this, DM 32 billion went to the nine rail transport projects. Due to the price development, it was raised to 64 billion DM (32.7 billion euros) by 1993. By 1995, 12.4 billion D-Marks had been invested. By the beginning of 1996, 3 of the 17 projects had been implemented on railroad tracks. The estimated total investment volume was put at 67.5 billion DM. Of 1200 km of planned motorways, around 800 km were in the planning approval process or had already been granted building permits. 140 km were already under construction.

The estimated total costs are 39.4 billion euros . Almost 32 billion euros of this had been spent by the end of 2011. By the end of 2012, 33.9 billion euros had been invested. Of this, around 16.2 billion euros went to railways, around 15.1 billion euros to roads and around 1.6 billion euros to waterways . Around 34 billion euros had been spent by the end of 2013.

VDE projects

Bundle of routes (2013):
VDE No. 8 high-speed line Nuremberg-Erfurt (under construction) and
VDE No. 16 A 71
Erfurt – Schweinfurt (completed)

The 17 VDE projects were numbered in ascending order from north to south, separated by rail / road / waterway.

rail

There are a total of nine rail projects. Six of these projects have been completed (VDE projects 2 to 7), and work on projects 8 and 9 is ongoing. Two sections of the VDE 1 project will initially not be pursued further due to a lack of profitability (status: 2014).

By the end of 2011, of an estimated total cost of 20.1 billion euros, 15.4 billion euros had been built. By the end of 2013, around 16.9 billion euros of an estimated 20.3 billion euros had been spent.

The transport projects are in detail:

  • VDE No. 1 Lübeck / Hagenow Land - Rostock - Stralsund (laying of the foundation stone on February 6, 1993, planned construction period initially in 1997, later in 2002; currently not yet completed). The 242 km long axis is to be expanded to consist of two tracks and for 160 km / h. The review of the requirement plan for the federal railways of November 11, 2010 did not bring an economically positive result for the measures “Two-track expansion Rostock (Riekdahl branch) –Ribnitz-Damgarten West” and “Two-track expansion Velgast – Stralsund”; therefore they are currently not being pursued any further.
  • VDE No. 2 By 1997, the Berlin – Hamburg railway line was fundamentally refurbished, electrified and expanded for a line speed of 160 km / h. This reduced the travel time to two hours and 17 minutes. Since the Transrapid project between the two cities was canceled, the railway line was expanded from 2000 to a line speed of 230 km / h. This means that the travel time has been reduced to 90 minutes since December 2004.
  • VDE No. 3 New construction and expansion of the gap closure on the Stendal – Uelzen railway line between Uelzen and Salzwedel (completion in December 1999); the continuous double-track expansion is to take place in a later expansion stage.
  • VDE No. 4 Expansion of the main line (subsequently heavily reduced) and new construction of the high-speed line from Hanover to Berlin via Stendal (completed in 1998). Plans to expand this route were already part of bilateral talks between East and West during the 1980s.
  • VDE No. 5 Expansion of the Helmstedt - Magdeburg - Berlin route to 160 km / h (completed in 1995, see also the Braunschweig – Magdeburg railway ).
  • VDE No. 6 Closing the gap and expanding the Halle – Hann. Münden between Eichenberg and Halle (Saale) (completed in 1994).
  • VDE No. 7 Expansion of the Bebra – Erfurt line (completed in 1995); the reconstruction of the Erfurt-Bischleben-Erfurt Hbf section was carried out in the course of VDE No. 8.1 until December 2017.
  • VDE No. 8 : Fast connection from Berlin via Halle , Leipzig and Erfurt to Nuremberg . The project is divided into three sections:
    • VDE No. 8.1 New and upgraded Nuremberg – Erfurt line : The new Erfurt – Ebensfeld line went into operation in December 2017. The subsequent expansion section to Nuremberg is to be built for a few more years [obsolete] (as of June 2017). In addition, a four-track expansion of the line sections between Nuremberg and Ebensfeld and a 13 km long new line for freight traffic are planned. The estimated total cost is 5.1 billion euros. The total completion is not foreseeable.
    • VDE No. 8.2 New Erfurt – Leipzig / Halle line : the 23 km long section Gröbers –Leipzig has been in operation since 2003 ; the rest of the line was opened in December 2015. The estimated total cost is 2.7 billion euros.
    • VDE No. 8.3 Expansion of the Berlin – Leipzig / Halle line : fully operational on May 28, 2006 with the completion of Berlin Central Station . The total cost is 1.65 billion euros.
  • VDE No. 9 Expansion of the Leipzig – Dresden railway line . Started in 1993. The end of the project is not in sight (status: 2016) Template: future / in 5 years.

6 was the first VDE project to be completed on May 27, 1994. Project 7 followed in May 1995, and project 5 at the end of 1995. The German Unity rail transport projects were initially largely overseen by the Bahnbau Deutsche Einheit planning company , which was transferred to DB Projekt Verkehrsbau in 2000 and finally to DB ProjektBau in 2002 .

On the fringes of the projects, new traction power lines were also built, for example the 162 km long line from Muldenstein via the Kirchmöser power plant to Rathenow . On March 27, 1995, a new combined cycle gas and steam power plant went into operation in Kirchmöser .

Highways

A total of seven road construction projects worth 17.3 billion euros are planned or under construction. Of this, 14.9 billion euros had been invested by the end of 2011. By the end of 2013, 15.4 of an estimated 17.4 billion euros had been invested. Of the road transport projects, projects 10, 12, 14 and 16 have been completed, and projects 11, 13 and 15 have largely been completed. By the end of 2013, more than 1,895 km of new and expanded motorways had been built.

The projects in the new federal states are supervised by the newly founded DEGES .

  • VDE No. 10 : New construction of the Baltic Sea motorway A 20 between Lübeck and Stettin (Uckermark junction) via Rostock (completed in 2005).
  • VDE No. 11 : Expansion of the A 2 motorway between Hanover and Berlin (completed in 2001) and the A 10 East and South Berlin Ring. The eight-lane extension between the A 9 and the A 115, which is planned for around 8 km, is under construction and should be completed in 2020.
  • VDE No. 12 : Six-lane expansion of the A 9 motorway between Berlin and Nuremberg (completed in November 2014).
  • VDE No. 13 : New construction of the Südharzautobahn A 38 between Göttingen and Halle (Saale) (completed in 2009) and A 143 Halle western bypass (2 sections completed since 2003/2004, last section under construction since 2019, completion expected in 2025).Template: future / in 5 years
  • VDE No. 14 : New construction of the A 14 motorway between Magdeburg and Halle (completed in 2000).
  • VDE No. 15 : New construction of the A 44 motorway between Kassel and EisenachTemplate: future / in 2 years (mostly under construction); Expansion of the motorway A 4 between Eisenach and Bautzen (except for expansion Hermsdorfer Kreuz closed since 2014) as well as construction of the A4 motorway between Bautzen and Görlitz (completed 1999).
  • VDE no. 16 new construction of: Thuringian Forest -Highway A 71 between Schweinfurt and Erfurt (completed in 2005) and the A73 from Suhl to Lichtenfels (completed 2008).

Waterways

The section of the Mittelland Canal from Magdeburg to the Dortmund-Ems Canal has been continuously navigable since the end of 2017 with 185 m long and 2.80 m unloaded push convoys with 3600 t of cargo. Completion of VDE 17 was planned for 2019.

This project is controversial among environmental groups and local residents. According to the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan from 1992, the expansion to 280 kilometers of waterway, a water depth of four meters and a width of 42 to 77 meters in curves should take place. According to the critics, this endangers the river landscape of the Havel and the cultural heritage in Berlin and Potsdam.

With the abandonment of the east port through Berlin, the "southern route" was spun off from the VDE 17 project. The “northern route” is now also to be expanded to a lesser extent than originally planned. The aim is now to achieve a qualified completion of the expansion measures in order to enable restricted oncoming traffic for pushed convoys.

By the end of 2013, 1.6 billion of around 2.0 billion euros had been invested in the project.

For the Berlin-Spandau area, a reduced expansion compared to the original plan was decided. The Spree-Oder waterway from km 0 to km 4.673 (near Rohrdamm) and the Untere-Havel waterway from km 0 to km 4.3 will be deepened and corrected in some places from 2018. a. on the Spandauer Horn. Instead of the originally planned four meters, the fairway will now be deepened to 3.50 meters, and the number of trees affected by felling will also be reduced from around a thousand to 90. The expected construction time is given as three years.

literature

  • The Federal Minister of Transport (ed.): Transport projects German unity . Bonn September 1991 (52 pages).
  • Federal Ministry of Transport, Public Relations Department (Ed.): Transport projects German unity. Projects, plans, laws, arguments . Bonn August 1993 (140 pages).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz-Josef Sehr : Accident series and German unity . In: Florian Hessen 3/1993 . Munkelt Verlag, Wiesbaden 1993, p. 28-29 . ISSN 0936-5370 .  
  2. ↑ Rapid train connection between Hanover and Berlin . In: Die Bahn informs , ZDB -ID 2003143-9 , issue 1/1990, p. 10.
  3. ↑ Carl Graf Hohenthal: German unity on the rails, on the water, on the road . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , December 5, 1994.
  4. ↑ a b Planungsgesellschaft Bahnbau Deutsche Einheit mbH (publisher): Info-Brief , ZDB -ID 2668166-3 , issue 1/1999, July 15, 1999, p. 8.
  5. ^ Frank Kniestedt: First course set: new railway line Erfurt-Leipzig / Halle . In: Baukultur , Heft 3, 1994, pp. 20-24, ISSN  0722-3099 .
  6. ↑ Siegfried Deficiencies : The railway: a technically highly complex system; something for experts. In: Main Association of the German Construction Industry (ed.): Weitblick , ohne Ort, 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-038025-9 , pp. 19–32.
  7. ^ Hans Peter Weber, Michael Rebentisch: The Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 1992 for the rail sector . In: Railway technical review . tape 41 , no. 7/8 , 1992, pp. 448-456 .
  8. ^ Reinhard Heinemann: Transport projects German unity: A masterpiece of transport policy . In: Main Association of the German Construction Industry (ed.): Weitblick , ohne Ort, 2012, ISBN 978-3-00-038025-9 , pp. 63–65.
  9. ↑ Thomas Zorn: "Better to use electronics to prevent accidents" . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , November 24, 1991, p. 5.
  10. ↑ Krause: The country needs new paths. Now! . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , January 21, 1992.
  11. ^ Siegfried Deficiencies: Transport projects German unity: Political will is successfully implemented . In: Eisenbahntechnische Rundschau , Volume 44 (1995), Issue 4 (April), pp. 261–266.
  12. ↑ a b East-West rail connections quickly expanded . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 17, 1993, No. 189, p. 11.
  13. ^ Siegfried Deficiencies : German Unity Transport Projects “Rail”: Promise redeemed . In: The Railway Engineer . tape 65 , no. 8 , 2015, p. 10-15 .
  14. ^ Message 67.5 billion marks for traffic routes . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , No. 11, 1995, p. 10.
  15. ↑ Frank Hornig: Legal reform accelerates traffic route construction in East Germany . In: Handelsblatt , No. 23, February 1, 1996, p. 6.
  16. ↑ a b c Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (Ed.): Status report of traffic projects German unity May 2012  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bmvbs.de
  17. ↑ Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (Ed.): Status report of traffic projects German unity . Status: June 2013. 2013, ZDB -ID 2544199-1 , p. 2 ( PDF file ( Memento from October 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), 198 kB). Status report on German unity transport projects ( Memento from October 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ↑ a b c d e Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (Ed.): Status report of transport projects German unity (as of June 2014) . 2014, p. 2–4 ( PDF file ).
  19. ↑ a b Planungsgesellschaft Bahnbau Deutsche Einheit mbH (Ed.): Information on the rail transport projects German unity in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . Planungsgesellschaft Bahnbau Deutsche Einheit mbH as of May 1993 . May 1993.
  20. ^ Planungsgesellschaft Bahnbau Deutsche Einheit (Ed.): Lübeck / Hagenow Land-Rostock-Stralsund. Section Hagenow Land-Bad Kleinen . Brochure, June 1993.
  21. ↑ Transport Investment Report for the year 2010, German Bundestag Printed Matter 17/8700 of 20 February 2012 page 37 (PDF, 42.0 MB).
  22. ↑ Sven Böll: New ICE route: "Biggest improvement in services in decades". In: spiegel.de. June 16, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017 .
  23. ↑ a b c Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (Ed.): Status report of traffic projects German unity . May 2011, p. 16 ( PDF file ( Memento from December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive )).
  24. ^ Planungsgesellschaft Bahnbau Deutsche Einheit (Ed.): Railway power line Rathenow - Muldenstein . Berlin, June 1995.
  25. ^ A 10: southern Berliner Ring: eight-lane expansion (VDE No. 11). Accessed January 7, 2020 (German).
  26. ^ A 143: Halle western bypass (VDE No. 13). Accessed January 7, 2020 (German).
  27. ↑ Printed matter 17/511. (PDF; 100 kB) German Bundestag, January 26, 2010, accessed on December 25, 2012 .
  28. ↑ Status report on German unity transport projects. (PDF; 595 kB) Status: June 2014. (No longer available online.) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, July 9, 2014, p. 29 , archived from the original on October 21, 2013 ; Retrieved August 4, 2014 .
  29. ↑ Status report traffic projects German unity (VDE). Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), accessed on May 13, 2020 .
  30. ↑ Status report on German unity transport projects. (PDF) Status: June 2014. (No longer available online.) Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, July 9, 2014, p. 28 , archived from the original on October 21, 2013 ; Retrieved August 4, 2014 (595 KB).
  31. ↑ Revised registration for expansion measures on the Havel and Spree ("Project 17") with an environmentally friendly variant for the State of Berlin. Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment, December 21, 2012, accessed on December 25, 2012 .
  32. ↑ News in brief - shipping . In: Berliner Verkehrsblätter . No. 7 , 2016, p. 139 .