2024-07-14 14:13:11
Can the railway meet its schedule for the general renovation? That is not certain. The railway lacks reliable commitments for most of the affected routes.
Shortly before the start of the general renovation of Deutsche Bahn (DB), the construction industry expressed doubts about the timetable for the work. Although the construction companies involved are on schedule with the preliminary work for the first planned renovation of the Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim – there is a lack of reliable commitments for the remaining 40 routes that are to be renovated by 2031, said the General Manager of the German Construction Industry Association (HDB), Tim-Oliver Müller, to “Welt am Sonntag”.
He thinks it would be “sensible to extend the entire general renovation project a little bit,” said Müller. Only realistic timetables would encourage construction companies to increase their capacities further. “The companies are still unable to make realistic capacity plans because politicians and DB are not in agreement,” said Müller. “I am therefore now very certain that not all of the 41 corridor renovations currently planned will be completed by 2031.”
However, Berthold Huber, the board member responsible for infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn AG, believes that the Riedbahn renovation, which begins on Monday, will not fail. “I don’t know why the Riedbahn renovation could fail: there is enough money, the planning is good, the capacities in the construction industry are there,” Huber told “Welt am Sonntag”.
“Our goal is to reduce the number of disruptions on the Riedbahn by 80 percent through the renovation,” said Huber. To achieve this, the important route between Frankfurt and Mannheim will be closed for five months starting Monday.