By Michael Sauerbier
The railway lines in Berlin and Brandenburg are to be expanded for an amount in the double-digit billions. The federal states are setting up a task force with the federal government for this purpose. Because she has to foot the bill.
Great weather over the Potsdam Kaiserbahnhof, where the railway strategists met on Friday. Everyone came by train – only Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (60, SPD) drove up with two heavy limousines. Although his office is at Potsdam Central Station, it is only two stops (four minutes by train) from the conference venue.
On the agenda: the expansion of Berlin into an efficient rail hub in the region. With new routes, shorter cycles, faster travel times.
“Half a million commuters cross national borders every day,” said Berlin’s ruler Franziska Giffey (44, SPD). “There is a massive need for expansion if we want to achieve the turnaround in transport and energy.”
With the new local transport plan, train capacity will be increased by 30 percent from December. Eight routes are being expanded or newly built with the “i2030” program. The railway summit has now added eight more lines to its program. From the Berlin outer ring to the “Ostbahn” to the Polish border.
Explosive: The line to Küstrin is planned for grain transports from the East and military transports to the Baltic States. “As an alternative connection to the busy line via Frankfurt (Oder)”, says Deutsche Bahn Board Member Alexander Kaczmarek.
That will be expensive. Woidke: “In the next ten years we need a double-digit billion amount.” His Transport Minister Guido Beermann (56, CDU): “In the task force we have to talk to the federal government about where the money should come from.”
The federal government did not make any commitments on Friday.
