german high speed_abbott:Layout 1 19/5/08 12:00 Page 1
GERMAN HIGH-SPEED
DB to add
1,000km to the
high-speed
network
In a recent presentation from Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Feldwisch of DB Netz AG given
at the UIC High-Speed show in Amsterdam, ambitious plans for enlarging the
German high-speed network were explained.
James Abbott, Technical Editor, The first German high-speed rail lines Hannover-Berlin line was upgraded in the
European Railway Review
were planned in the 1980s, when the 1990s for a top speed of up to 250km/h,
Iron Curtain dividing the country was while the route from Hamburg to Berlin
still in place. was completed with a maximum speed of
Historically, the main transport 230km/h in December 2004.
corridors in Germany had been east-west With Berlin once again the German
routes centred on Berlin. With the division capital, the city became the focal point for
of the country, West Germany needed services running to all corners of the
better north-south links. Accordingly, country. To accommodate these long-
the first high-speed lines ran north-south, distance services, as well as enhanced
from Hannover to Würzburg and regional and S-Bahn services, a new multi-
Mannheim to Stuttgart. These pioneer level station costing €3.9 billion was built
routes, opened in 1991, and have on vacant ground in the former No Man’s
maximum speeds of up to 280km/h. Land dividing the city, close to the iconic
Since 2002, DB Netz AG has had a parliament building and other new federal
line capable of 300km/h. The new line government buildings. The main east-west
from Frankfurt to Köln climbs up over route across the city runs on the top level,
the hills and bypasses the scenic but and new north-south link lines have been
curvaceous historic route alongside the built to serve lower-level platforms.
river Rhine, with 300km/h ICEs cutting The new Berlin Hauptbahnhof was
journey times between the two cities. ready in time for the summer of 2006,
when Germany played host to the
Eastern Germany European football championships and was
With the reunification of the country, there inundated with foreign visitors.
was a need to upgrade the east-west routes Also completed in time for the
feeding into the former East Germany. The championships was the upgrading to
106 EUROPEAN RAILWAY REVIEW
l
ISSUE 3
l
2008
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