page_title: Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway
section_title: Outlook
hierarchical_section_title: Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway / Ebensfeld–Erfurt new line / Outlook
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Schienentransportzug für die Neubaustrecke bei Dörfles Esbach
context_page_description: The Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway is a 191 km-long German high-speed railway, between Nuremberg and Erfurt. The line is listed in the Germany's federal transport plan as Verkehrsprojekt Deutsche Einheit Nr. 8.1 and is a section of the high-speed route between Berlin and Munich and a section of the line connecting Italy and Scandinavia in the European Union's Trans-European Rail network. It consists of an upgraded line between Nuremberg and Ebensfeld and a new line between Ebensfeld and Erfurt. The journey time between Erfurt and Nuremberg will be reduced to approximately one hour and 20 minutes after completion.
  The planning began in 1991 and construction started in April 1996. Three years later construction was stopped by the new SPD-Green coalition government formed after the 1998 election and only recommenced in 2002. The new line was opened at the timetable change on 10 December 2017. The timing of the final commissioning of the upgraded section is still uncertain.
context_section_description: The planned date of commissioning has been postponed several times. Thus, in July 1997, the commissioning of the new line was still expected in 2004. In December 2006, the Federal Government and Deutsche Bahn AG announced that the new line would be completed in 2016. In May 2006, the opening year was given as 2020 in a response to a parliamentary question from the Green Party, although the Federal Minister of Transport Wolfgang Tiefensee indicated at the opening of the Nürnberg-Ingolstadt high-speed line, that the line would be opened in 2016/2017. At the end of 2007 the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that the line would not be completed until 2041. Later, it became known that 2041 had been used in a meeting of the board of directors to refer to the completion date of the upgraded line between Fürth and Ebensfeld. The new line is still planned to be completed by 2017 at the latest. Commissioning is now scheduled for the timetable change on 8 December 2017. According to information from mid-2015, this date is tight, but it can be kept. €29 million were provided for the new line from the Konjunkturpaket I ("stimulus package I"). In December 2006, a parliamentary support group was founded called Vollendung des Verkehrsprojektes Deutsche Einheit Nr. 8 ("Completion of German Unity transport project No. 8"), comprising over twenty Bundestag deputies. The parliamentarians were keen to accelerate the completion of the line. In April 2007, Transport Minister Tiefensee confirmed with the support group that the line would be completied by 2016, but in May 2008 the parliamentarians announced 2017 as the completion date in a press release.
  The symbolic closing of the gap was celebrated on 9 September 2016. High-speed runs were due to begin on 17 October 2016. Trials will begin at 160 km/h and will be increased in 20-km/h increments until ultimately 330 km/h is achieved. The runs will take about three weeks and the data will be evaluated over several months.
  Further operational testing, acceptance and approval are to take place in 2017  so that regular services can begin at the timetable change in December 2017. According to Deutsche Bahn, the possible building technology for the fastest possible realisation of the line were exhausted. An additional base of works in the cente of the line would not have resulted in a significantly earlier commissioning.
caption: Unloading of long sections of rail at Coburg, November 2013
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