An attractive night network and revitalized disused routes for the climate goals: The Greens are calling for the railway to be expanded.
The “Railway for All” alliance is critical.
Berlin - So that Germany
can achieve
its
climate
goals, the
Greens *
are pressing
for a far-reaching restructuring of
Deutsche Bahn
.
For this purpose, thousands of kilometers of disused routes are to be put back into operation, all major cities are to be connected to the long-distance network and more goods are to be brought onto the rails - according to a decision by the Green parliamentary group.
In addition, there should be “new and more efficient structures” in the federally owned group.
"We now need a railway offensive," said Green parliamentary leader Anton Hofreiter on Monday.
"We want to expand the rail network, reactivate disused routes and continue electrifying them," he said of the parliamentary group's decision, which was initially
reported by
the
Süddeutsche Zeitung
.
In addition, “all of
Deutsche Bahn's
infrastructure operations” should be brought
together under one roof “in order to avoid unnecessary competition and frictional losses,” demanded
Hofreiter
.
The Greens also wanted to create an infrastructure fund "that financially secures longer construction work from day one and is fed from the truck toll, the federal budget and track prices".
Greens in the Bundestag: Railway policy spokesman wants to make stations more attractive
The
Greens
' rail
policy spokesman
, Matthias Gastel, stated that the financing fund was “our proposal for long-term, secure, adequate financing for an intact and efficient rail network and attractive train stations”.
Rail freight transport is also “a real climate saver” - because it is “up to six times more energy efficient” than a truck.
However, rail freight transport has been "criminally neglected" by the government in recent years, complained Gastel.
Here there is an "acute need for action".
The aim of @GrueneBundestag is to significantly strengthen the #Bahn.
This requires expansion of #Infrastructure, #Reactivation of disused #Trains, long-distance traffic connections for more large cities, more fast #Sprinter between metropolises and more # Night trains.https: //t.co/FMqRL820cs
- Matthias Gastel (@MatthiasGastel) December 28, 2020
The paper by the parliamentary group also includes proposals for expanding a Europe-wide night train network as an “attractive alternative to flying”.
In addition, the federal government should "actively intervene in the organization of long-distance traffic" and determine which cities are served by which trains and how often each day.
A coordination office for long-distance traffic is to be created for this purpose.
Greens are calling for a rail initiative: DB wants to make “Alliance Rail for All” non-profit
The alliance "Rail for All" declared that the new strategy of the Green parliamentary group was a step in the right direction, but also harbored dangers.
"The strategy clearly marks essential goals for a black-green federal government with a green-occupied
Ministry of Transport,
" said the alliance with a view to the general election next autumn.
Above all, the alliance is critical of a possible split into network and operation.
Because, according to the strategy paper, for the infrastructure divisions of the railway, all federally owned companies are to be merged into one company and the legal form of a stock corporation is to be abandoned in favor of an institution under public law with no intention of making a profit, the Greens are considering converting the corresponding divisions into a GmbH for the transport and transport tasks in
federal property
.
"The whole
railway
must become charitable," demanded "Bahn für Alle" spokesman Carl Waßmuth.
He pointed out that “all the really successful railways in the world” are integrated railways, for example in
Switzerland
.
Conversely, the railway in Great Britain, which has been split into network and operation since 1995, is "a disaster".
(dpa / kat)
* Merkur.de is part of the Germany-wide Ippen digital editorial network.