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Why it is difficult for new trams to be built in Germany. A look at France as an example

2020-12-14T13:38:25.463Z


In Germany it is difficult for new trams to be built, in Wiesbaden such a project fell through with the citizens. In France, however, newly built trams are considered a success. Why is that?


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Considered a successful model: the Strasbourg tram

Photo: allOver / imago images

It was considered by supporters as the "chance of the century": the return of the tram to Wiesbaden.

But in the end the project crashed.

At the beginning of November, 62 percent of the citizens voted against the "Citybahn", only 38 percent in favor, the turnout was a comparatively high 45 percent.

The concept sounds as simple as it is tempting.

A 45-kilometer tram line was to lead from Mainz through the city center of Wiesbaden to Bad Schwalbach and all of this at a bargain price for the citizens.

Because 90 percent of the estimated construction costs would have been paid by the federal and state governments.

»Wiesbaden has 250,000 inhabitants and a huge traffic problem.

A tram would have solved that wonderfully, ”says mobility researcher Andreas Knie.

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In 2019, the comparatively small city was ranked third in the traffic jam index of the map service provider Tomtom, behind Hamburg and Berlin.

An astonishingly broad coalition therefore supported the tram as a possible way out of the everyday sheet metal avalanche.

In addition to Wiesbaden's Lord Mayor Gert Uwe Mende (SPD) - unsurprisingly - the Greens and Fridays for Future spoke out in favor of the new means of transport.

But also the German Trade Union Federation, the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the works council of the local transport companies as representatives of the bus drivers promoted the project.

Vain.

Hardened fronts in Germany, bloom in France

From a purely technical point of view, the tram is unbeatable as a means of public transport: According to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), it moves three times the passenger volume of a bus route per hour.

Although it only manages around 20 percent of the transport capacity of an underground train and runs only half as fast as this, the cost advantage is enormous: The VDV puts the investment for one kilometer of tram at ten to 20 million euros, one kilometer of subway costs on the other hand, 100 to 250 million euros.

But these advantages obviously do not convince voters.

On the contrary: arguments never reached it.

The »Frankfurter Rundschau« ruled that the planners failed to resolve reservations in a toxic debate, while the opponents claimed that the results of investigations and plans were wrong - and with this low-fact rejection, according to the newspaper, to corona deniers remembered.

In the end, the result was clear. In Wiesbaden, not only was there a majority against the project in the immediate vicinity of the planned route, the new means of transport fell through with the voters in almost all parts of the city.

"In Germany the fronts on the tram are hardened"

Andreas Knie, mobility researcher

The city railway of the Hessian state capital is not an isolated case in Germany.

The Aachen Campusbahn 2013 clearly failed in a referendum, Hamburg buried plans for the comeback of the tram in 2011. In France, on the other hand, things look very different, where trams have been celebrating a renaissance since the 1980s.

And this despite the fact that trams were almost extinct there in France in the 1970s and had to give way to cars almost everywhere.

Modern overall concept instead of individual tracks

This actual disadvantage is now turning out to be an advantage, says transport planner Christoph Groneck.

Because in France you could develop holistic strategies to convince the citizens of a new building.

There "cities sell the citizens a gain in quality of life, not the tram as a technical device," says Groneck.

Mobility researcher Knie also shares this view: »You have to present people with an overall concept, not a single tram.

That was neglected in Wiesbaden. "

more on the subject

  • Tram comeback in Paris: Vive le Tram! By Stefan Simons

  • Urban planning: Renaissance on railsBy Stefan Simons

VDV President Ingo Wortmann also praises the fact that the “Tramway” in France is never a pure transport project, but always also serves urban development - with less car traffic and space to upgrade the surrounding area.

The tram is only one component of an urban reorganization there, not an individual measure.

"That", states Wortmann, "convinces many people in French cities."

“In Germany, the fronts have hardened on the tram,” says mobility researcher Knie.

Some defend it to the point and only want trams everywhere, only a minority see the tram as an option in a larger system.

"And then there is the large group of opponents who do not want anything to be stolen from the car," said Knie.

One reason why such projects are more easily accepted in France may also be due to suffering.

There, explains Groneck, there was no good local traffic for a long time and few pedestrian zones.

Then in the eighties a rethink began.

Nantes brought the tram back in 1985, Grenoble opened its completely barrier-free tram network in 1987.

Today, however, the tram network in Strasbourg is exemplary - and how it has changed the city.

Almost everything that is pedestrianized there today was a main thoroughfare before the tram was built in the 1990s, explains traffic planner Groneck.

“The tram wasn't just a means of transport.

It has upgraded the city as a whole. "

Aesthetics funding gap

There you can also marvel at how well the tram can fit into an overall concept if it is laid out as such.

Strasbourg's tram stops fit in aesthetically with their surroundings, according to Groneck, thanks to the large glass surfaces, the cars are in a sense a single window front.

In many places they roll quietly over grass tracks, so to speak through the green.

In Germany, the existing lines are often foreign objects in the street scene.

This is also ensured by the different financing options.

In this country, cities can mainly build because of their limited funds, which is also funded by the federal government and the states, says transport planner Groneck.

Turf tracks, on which they can drive away from traffic jams and traffic, are more beautiful, more environmentally friendly and quieter, "but they cannot be promoted in Germany with the argument of urban design".

French cities have an easier time here, they can collect a local transport tax from local employers, so they have more resources of their own - and can thus determine what they build.

Showcase project wanted

So has the train left for a tram renaissance on this side of the border?

Traffic planner Groneck doesn't see it that way.

Only one city would have to start.

"Germany needs a success story like the one in Strasbourg so that trams are perceived as a modern alternative," he says.

The approach of completely rethinking a city center by building a tram has not yet existed in this country.

Mobility researcher Knie also misses a success story in this country.

"What drives around in Berlin or Leipzig is old-fashioned for people and part of the 20th century," said Knie.

In order to give the tram a second spring, Germany would need a showcase project based on the model of Strasbourg.

According to Groneck, a possible tram pioneer after the Wiesbaden debacle would be another state capital: Kiel.

"One line, once around the fjord, could solve many problems here," says the traffic planner.

The administration has also recognized this, the route planning is currently in progress, at the end of 2022 the Kiel Council will decide between the light rail system and the express bus system, and the first trams could start rolling on the fjord in 2030.

The local planners have learned a lesson from the failure of the city railway: There the tram has become a bone of contention and a broad public participation has been neglected, said Mayor Ulf Kämper to the "Kieler Nachrichten".

The planners in Kiel want to avoid this mistake; they promise to openly take the citizens with them.

But adversity threatens there too.

For example, the Kiel Greens declared on Facebook that there would be no turnaround in traffic without a tram, while the FDP insisted on the agreed-upon, technology-neutral planning without prior determination of a tram - whether Kiel will really become a tram model remains to be seen.

Icon: The mirror

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2020-12-14

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