Controversial DB project: Söder cancels plan in home town - but warns of the "St. Florians principle"

Prime Minister Söder announced on Saturday that the planned ICE plant in the southeast of Nuremberg will probably not be built.

But he wants to fight for Bavaria as a location.

Nuremberg - Actually everything seemed to be in the towel: Deutsche Bahn wanted to build its tenth plant in the southeast of Nuremberg.

More precisely in Altenfurt / Fischbach.

The railway and transport union (EVG) also spoke out in favor of the location - although there were massive protests from the population.

Now Prime Minister Markus Söder * (CSU) has probably given the project the fatal blow, at least at this location.

ICE plant in Nuremberg - too close to residential areas and too much surface sealing

The ICE maintenance facility in the Altenfurt / Fischbach districts of Nuremberg * was intended to create several hundred new jobs for the region. Deutsche Bahn preferred the site southeast of the Franconian metropolis for its major investment of around 400 million euros. Bavaria's head of state, Söder, said on Saturday: “The location is probably not the right one.” But he definitely wants to keep the project in the Free State. It is possible to expand the list of nine alternative locations in the northern Bavarian region proposed so far by Deutsche Bahn. It would be desirable if the ICE plant were not built outside of Bavaria, said Söder.

The Prime Minister was supported by his party colleague and Lord Mayor of Nuremberg *, Marcus König (also CSU).

"Altenfurt / Fischbach will not be the location." The town hall chief named the large-scale destruction of green spaces as the reason.

In addition, the work was created too close to an inhabited area, he said.

Many Nuremberg residents would use the region as a local recreation area anyway.

Söder emphasizes the relevance of the ICE plant for Bavaria

Söder reminded that the railway and thus also the ICE plant with its 500 jobs is important for the regional job market and also for an ecological transport turnaround.

However, the argument of proximity to the resident population is a very strong one.

The prime minister emphasized that the location should not be sought according to the St. Florians principle.

Construction should be finished by 2028.

Söder said the schedule could be jeopardized by the location search.

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