Further infrastructure development

DB Group is technically retrofitting older interlockings to support the track monitoring work of traffic controllers. In January 2019, the installation of the new technology was started at the pilot locations Utting in Bavaria and Nieukerk in North Rhine-Westphalia. The retrofitting of up to 50 interlockings is still to be started in this year. About 600 interlockings are to be retrofitted by the end of 2023. The retrofitting will cost about € 90 million.

In December 2017, the plan approval decision (Planfeststellungsbeschluss; PFB) of the Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt; EBA) was issued for the relocation of the Hamburg-Altona long-distance train station. In January 2018, the EBA issued an immediate execution order. On August 15, 2018, the Hamburg Higher Administrative Court reinstated the suspensive effect of the claim against the EBA’s plan approval decision by the Verkehrsclub Deutschland Landesverband Nord e.V. Construction on the project cannot be continued until the principal proceedings have been completed. Completion of the principal proceedings is still expected in 2019.

In June 2018, the main construction measures were begun to modernize Dortmund central station. Following the completion of the work, the station will be fully accessible and enable a barrier-free networking of all modes of transport. Work on platform 26/31 is almost finished. At the end of July 2019, the platform will be fully modernized and will start operations.

On the occasion of the first noise protection wall built in its final location, a symbolic groundbreaking took place in February 2019 to celebrate the start of the main construction work. In the project section located in the State of Brandenburg, completion of the legally required planning approval procedure is expected by September 2019. As part of this project, about 16 km of track will be newly built, including nine bridges, three stations, and nine railroad crossings to be removed.

The future viability of rail transport is ensured by the Frankfurt Rhine-Main plus infrastructure expansion program. The program includes the reconstruction of the area at the Frankfurt stadium, the two track-expansion of the Homburger Damm, the S-Bahn (metro) connection Gateway Gardens, the S-Bahn (metro) line 6 expansion in direction of Friedberg and the construction of the northern Main S-Bahn (metro). The tunnel shell construction measures for the Gateway Gardens project have been completed. Start of operations is planned for December 15, 2019.

The legally required building approval processes have been completed for all 20 plan approval sections since April 2019. Since March 2018, the main construction stages are being carried out with large-scale sectional track closings. The main construction work at the expansion line planned for 2018 and later impacted by the subsequently issued building approval was compensated by an expansion of rail replacement services to several track sections and a reorganization of the construction process. Start of operations is planned for December 2020.

The plan approval documents for the plan approval sections (Planfeststellungsabschnitt; PFA) 3.2 (Duisburg) and 3.0a (Düsseldorf airport) were submitted to the EBA in December 2018 and March 2019. The preliminary planning for section PFA 2.0 (Düsseldorf-Reisholz and DüsseldorfBenrath) was presented during a dialog with the public. Construction work on plan approval section 4.0, Mülheim, has begun. The plan approval decision for PFA 1.2 (Leverkusen) was issued on October 8, 2018. The decision for PFA 1.3 has been available since March 2019, but is currently being sued by the city of Langenfeld. We, consequently, now have the building approvals for six of the 15 PFAs. Preparation work is being carried out for the construction in Leverkusen and Langenfeld, and start of construction is planned for early 2020.

By carrying out the electrification of the High Rhine Railway track between Basel Badischer Bahnhof and Erzingen (Baden), we will be able to close an important gap for electric traction between Basel and Schaffhausen (Switzerland). Once this track section has been electrified, it will be possible to have electric instead of diesel-powered vehicles ensuring transport between Basel Badischer Bahnhof and Singen (Hohentwiel). A transport-focused problem definition was prepared for the new operating program until May 2019. To implement the desired schedule of the Baden-Württemberg regional transport company (Nahverkehrsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg; NVBW), additional infrastructural measures will be required: Tiengen and Lauchringen will be expanded to become junction stations, added to this will be a quick exit from the Erzingen station and a quick entry to the Waldshut station, and the drop in speed between Waldshut and Tiengen will disappear.

As part of the electrification of the Südbahn (Southern Railway), the Lake Constance Belt Railway is to be expanded and electrified in the sections Radolfzell and Friedrichshafen as well as Stahringen and Stockach-Hindelwangen. The planning agreement with a scope of € 3.8 million was signed in January 2019. An operating program study, a transport-focused problem definition (VAST) and an operational problem definition (BAST) will be prepared by the fourth quarter of 2019. Subsequently, the preliminary planning will be put out to tender.

A planning order that was coordinated with the EBA is on hand for the expansion and new construction line Molzau— Graben-Neudorf—Karlsruhe. Currently, preparations are underway to put out for tender the first planning services for the train-path selection and technical feasibility, which will likely be published by July 2019. The respective plans should be closely coordinated due to the transport-related and operational dependencies with the projects of the north-south link in the Mannheim hub and/or the link to the new construction line Rhine/Main —Rhine/Neckar. In addition, public participation should probably be ensured by the end of 2019.

The requirement plan project for the expansion to three tracks for Karlsruhe—Durmersheim is to provide additional capacity south of Karlsruhe. Primarily, it includes the expansion to three tracks on a track length of about 8 km between Karlsruhe and the junction Bashaide in the direction of the Rastatter tunnel, the junction construction Karlsruhe to create a link to Karlsruhe central station and freight yard, the barrier-free conversion of Forchheim station, the removal of the Mörsch railway crossing, and a link to the existing track including new construction of an overpass in the area of the Bashaide junction. In June 2019, a feasibility study was completed which is used as the basis for the preparation of the operational problem definition.