Berlin Schoenefeld – With her plea for a rapid extension of the U7 subway line to BER Airport, Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) has fueled a discussion within the party. In a joint, unanimous decision, the bodies responsible for transport in the Berlin and Brandenburg Social Democrats made it clear that they did not consider this subway project to be sensible. It’s expensive and unimportant. Instead, other, more important projects should be pushed ahead in the capital region, demanded the transport working group of the SPD Brandenburg and the expert committee mobility of the SPD Berlin. According to a social democrat, smart politics looks different. Clear words in a debate that is gaining pace.
Berlin’s subway network should grow: the new red-green-red coalition agrees on this. But where? Mobility Senator Bettina Jarasch is in favor of continuing the U3 from Krumme Lanke to Mexico Square and then extending the U7 via the current Rathaus Spandau terminus to Heerstraße Nord. With an expected 40,000 passengers per day, the Spandau project would attract the most users. Because many people with little money live in the area, the western extension of the U7 would also have a “justice effect”, according to the Green politician to the Berliner Zeitung.
Giffey: “A capital airport also needs a connection to the capital”
But now the governing mayor drove the senator into the parade. Franziska Giffey made it clear that she sees the greatest need in south-east Berlin – where she was district mayor in the Neukölln district for almost three years. The Senate has set itself the task of preparing five subway projects, the SPD politician confirmed on Wednesday during her inaugural visit to the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG). “One route in particular has priority: the extension of the U7 to BER – because: A capital airport also needs a capital connection. That is important for Berliners as well as for our guests and partners,” Giffey pointed out.
This assessment is still shared in Neukölln and Schönefeld today. The people in the south of Rudow and in the neighboring boom community of Schönefeld would also benefit, they say. More and more jobs are being created not only at the airport, but also in the surrounding commercial areas – which also require good connections. “In order for the mobility turnaround to succeed, we have to make it easier for Berliners to switch to climate-friendly means of transport and create even more offers,” says Giffey at the BVG. “The expansion of the local transport network, especially the subway, is therefore of great importance.”
With her plea for the U7 to BER, however, the head of the Senate chose the most expensive of the five subway projects under consideration. According to a feasibility study by the BVG, the U7 extension could mainly be in a “simple low or high position”. Nevertheless, this project would not be a small or inexpensive construction project. Three construction variants were worked out – 7970 or 8560 meters long, with six or seven stations, for 672 million to 799 million euros.
It is clear to the former Brandenburg infrastructure minister Reinhold Dellmann that the actual financial expenditure would be significantly higher than the estimate published in June 2020. “The amounts mentioned are net costs,” said the Social Democrat, who is a member of the Transport Working Group of the SPD Brandenburg. Including VAT, the gross costs would be between 800 million and 951 million euros. In addition, construction costs would rise sharply. The bottom line could be 40 percent, it said.
In the future 13 trips per hour with regional trains and S-Bahn
Would the effort be worth it? Is the U7 to the airport really needed? No, the SPD committees state in their decision. “The already attractive rail connection of BER Airport to Berlin and Brandenburg will be significantly improved in 2025 by the commissioning of the Dresden Railway,” it says. Then regional trains and S-Bahn trains will connect BER and Berlin 13 times an hour. Thanks to the new route through the south of Berlin, the Airport Express will only need 20 to 25 minutes to get to the city center.
Only to better connect the residential areas in southern Neukölln and Schönefeld as well as the planned commercial areas east of BER Terminals 1-2, the investment of “at least one billion euros” overall costs “is not appropriate”, it said.
If the U7 project to BER is actually pushed ahead, this could result in other, more important projects being delayed or having to be stopped. “The project is in serious competition with the rail projects of the i2030 program in the capital region of Berlin-Brandenburg,” warn the SPD politicians from Berlin and Brandenburg in their decision on Wednesday. i2030 includes projects whose importance is unquestionable – such as the reconstruction of the S-Bahn lines to Falkensee, Velten and Rangsdorf. The U7 would compete with them for investment state funds, money for ordering traffic and maintenance as well as for federal funds. Not to forget the scarce resources for planning, building and approving projects.
The first subway in Brandenburg
Not to forget a specific Brandenburg issue: 79 percent of the route to the airport, almost seven kilometers, would run in the neighboring federal state. According to the Public Transport Act, however, it would not be the state but the Dahme-Spreewald district as the responsible authority for this project. For example, he would have to pay part of the planning costs – for which there is little willingness in Lübben. “In order to change that, the public transport law would have to be amended,” says Dellmann.
The two expert committees call on the SPD members of the two state governments and the SPD parliamentary groups to subject the U7 project to a simplified, standardized assessment – “in order to be able to assess a basic eligibility for funding”. Initially, only projects from the “i2030 program supported by both state governments with significantly higher transport benefits” should be registered with the federal government. An attractive local transport concept with buses and trams was to be implemented with all those involved for the area surrounding BER. It is also clear that the subway route must be kept clear.
Passenger association praises social democrats for their initiative
“Priorities in the construction of new traffic routes must be set exclusively according to technical and not political points of view,” says Dellmann. “Smart cross-state transport policy between Berlin and Brandenburg focuses on the i2030 projects and not the U7 extension to BER.”
“I guess that’s called a resounding slap in the face. Transport policy is more than drawing colorful lines on a map,” commented Jens Wieseke, spokesman for the IGEB passenger association. He thanked the SPD politicians involved in Berlin and Brandenburg.