The statistics are so far negative: While in the last fifteen years 827 kilometers were reconnected to connections for the passenger traffic of the German course, the course put 3600 kilometers in the same period. But the shrinking of the network should now have an end.
According to information from SPIEGEL, Deutsche Bahn uses a special unit to check which old railway lines should be reactivated. At the same time, the Executive Board will for the time being stop all intended decommissioning of routes that are currently not economically viable. The company wants to react to the increased importance of rail transport for climate protection. For decades, more and more railway tracks were no longer used. This strategy should be over. "In Germany we need every kilometer of track to cope with the growing traffic and to make the rail system more robust," said infrastructure manager Ronald Pofalla to SPIEGEL.
The working group located in his department will make a list of phased-out routes that the Association of German Transport Companies and the Pro-Rail Alliance created this spring. The associations have proposed a good 3,000 kilometers of track, which could be put back into service. In many cases, the tracks are still preserved and can be put back into operation with relatively little effort.
As an example, Pofalla calls new connections such as the Kurhessenbahn from Korbach to Frankenberg or the route from Gummersbach to Lüdenscheid. The moratorium on the suspension of the route could save the Niedtalbahn in Saarland from being demolished. An appropriate procedure should start soon and has now been canceled.
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