DB in talks with German government on roadmap high-intensity network
Deutsche Bahn (DB) wants to beef up and upgrade the most heavily used sections of its network and create a true high-intensity, high-capacity rail system. To that end it will engage in talks with the federal government on the roadmap beyond 2025, and to see which corridor sections will be included in the programme.
Towards the end of last year, DB named the railway corridors Hamburg-Berlin and Emmerich-Oberhausen as the two sites where it will carry out major improvement works from late 2024 onwards. In total, the operator has identified 40 sections, equal to 4,200 kilometres of railway, which will want to tackle in the current decade.
For this work, DB has held a number of so-called dialogue sessions with stakeholders for matters such as the order in which the routes could be improved. This process has resulted in a working paper, which will now be used in discussions with the federal government on the matter, which is de final decisionmaker.
In general, the works entail improvements to fault-prone systems and infrastructure. The first project will kick off on the 72-kilometre Emmerich-Oberhausen corridor in November 2024. The renovation will include new tracks, track infrastructure and signaling and safety systems. Stations along the route will be renovated too, as will bridges and overpasses.
The improvement works will be spread out over a period 20 months, until June 2026. This to not interfere with the international freight services to and from the Netherlands too much. The section is an important part of the Rotterdam-Genoa freight corridor, and thus the work will be planned in such a way that there will always be a single line available.
In 2025, work will begin on the Hamburg-Berlin corridor. With about 30,000 train travellers per day, the 280-kilometre railway between Germany’s two biggest cities is the busiest in the country. Here too, DB will renovate the tracks, bridges, overpasses and overheadlines as well as the signalling and safety systems.
Further reading:
Upgrading, yes, but a sustainable, one worth Name!
Regrettably, “state of the art”, neither was designed for current demand – and in no respect, nor for future!
Predective, “optimal maintenance”, is suboptimal, just “virtue of a necessity”.
TEN-T, now is cementing and devastating.
(Capacity and utilisation of assets shall not be obstructed, by machineries on tracks -virtually damaging!)
High quality calls for low and safely limited system forces – and provides for low energy radiated (noise).