Enlarge image
Trucks waiting at a motorway rest area: everything is closed
Photo: Horst Galuschka / IMAGO
According to a forecast by the Ministry of Transport, German freight traffic will increase significantly by the middle of the century - especially on the road.
The truck will remain the dominant means of transport, said Minister Volker Wissing (FDP), who presented the forecast on Friday in Berlin.
According to this, freight traffic will increase by almost half by 2051 compared to 2019: by 54 percent by road and by around a third by rail.
The forecast sees an increase of 13 percent in passenger transport, especially by train, air and bicycle. Road traffic, on the other hand, will only increase slightly, but the car will remain by far the most important means of transport.
In view of the increasing freight traffic, Wissing reiterated his demand for faster construction of motorways as well.
"The results show impressively that we cannot achieve our goals of demand-based transport simply by expanding rail and waterways," he said.
“We need an efficient and climate-neutral road mode of transport.” A fierce argument has been smoldering in the traffic light coalition for weeks about priority in accelerating planning processes.
Wissing not only wants to have bridges built faster, but also motorways - but the Greens reject that.
The transport policy spokesman for the Greens in the Bundestag, Stefan Gelbhaar, had previously demanded significantly more money for rail.
He said that rail has an investment backlog of more than 30 billion euros in new construction over the past three decades alone.
»No wonder that the road has competitive advantages over the railway.
Now it's finally the rail's turn.
We have to invest significantly more in the rail infrastructure and accelerate its expansion.«
"Minister Wissing is making a self-fulfilling prophecy," commented the Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD).
Increasing numbers from the traffic forecast served as an argument for more road construction.
This then ensures that the traffic figures actually increase and there is even more demand for roads.
The rail freight association »Die Güterbahnen« recalled that the traffic light was dedicated to a shift from rail freight traffic to rail.
"A prognosis does not replace politics," said Managing Director Peter Westenberger.
If, according to the traffic light, rail should achieve a 25 percent market share, that would correspond to an increase in transport performance of around 50 percent by 2030, instead of the one-third increase now forecast.
“Normally, such a result should lead to a review of the transport policy instruments.
The transport minister, on the other hand, seems to be indirectly questioning the traffic light shift target – and would thus further increase the failure of transport to meet the climate targets.«
lki/dpa