page_title: Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway / History / Construction
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Neubaustrecke Erfurt - Leipzig-Halle - NBS km 196
context_page_description: The Erfurt–Leipzig/ Halle high-speed railway is a 123 km-long high-speed line in Germany between Erfurt and Leipzig and Halle.
  It is listed in the Germany's Federal Transport Plan as "German Unity Rail Project no 8.1" and is a section of the Munich–Berlin high-speed route, part of the Line 1 of Trans-European Transport Networks and on the east-west axis between Dresden and Frankfurt. To the north, it connects with the previously completed Berlin-Halle and Leipzig railways and to in the south with the Nuremberg-Erfurt high-speed railway, which was opened in December 2017. The travel time from Munich to Berlin has been reduced to about four hours.
  The design speed is largely 300 km/h, reduced to 160 km/h on the branch to Halle. 15.4 km of the 123 km-long high-speed line is located in three tunnels; the six viaducts of the route together are more than 14.4 km long. With a length of approximately 6465 metres, the Saale-Elster Viaduct is the longest bridge structure in Germany and the longest bridge on a long-distance railway in Europe. The Unstrut Viaduct at 2668 m is the second longest railway bridge in Germany.
  Scheduled operations commenced on 13 December 2015.
context_section_description: The turning of the sod ceremony was held for the link between Gröbers and Leipzig on 2 October 1996. The Secretary of State Johannes Nitsch, Saxon Economics Minister Kajo Schommer and DB Chairman Ulf Häusler laid the foundations for a 130 m long pedestrian and cycle bridge over the six-lane Autobahn and the planned new line. In mid-1997, the archaeological investigation was carried out between Leipzig and Gröbers.
  In mid-1999, the Federal Minister of Transport Franz Müntefering stopped the construction work that had already begun. He justified this by the underfunding of the transport budget. The projects could be taken up at a later time if the traffic demand was rising and sufficient funds were available. New investment finance for new construction projects should be diverted to the development of the existing network. Construction on the new line was limited to the section between Leipzig and Gröbers to improve the market share of the airport link.
  A delay in the construction of the Leipzig-Gröbers section was announced in early 2001. Due to geological problems in a former mining area, the commissioning of the section through the Gröbers railway junction was postponed for one year to 2003.  €370 million has been invested in this 23 km-long section of the new railway between Leipzig Messe and Flughafen Leipzig/Halle. The track is in this section is currently operated at up to 160 km/h. The section was opened on 30 June 2003.
  In mid-March 2002, the federal government announced a freeze on work on the whole route and announced its intention to adjust funding for the DB. The then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder announced on 10 March 2002 that construction would resume. The project had not been adequately funded by the previous government and have therefore had to be postponed. Deutsche Bahn welcomed the decision. Yet at the end of February 2002, the former Minister of Transport Bodewig suggested that the realisation of the project was uncertain.
  The construction of the Saubach Viaduct began in the first half of 2004.
  The first construction phase of the transformation of the southern approach to Halle to introduce the new line ran into the town started in October 2005. New external platforms were built south of the existing site at Ammendorf/Beesen station. A new electronic interlocking took over the functions of four new signal boxes and a total of 6300 m of noise barriers were built. After the completion of this work, the speed is in this section was raised from 120 km/h to 160 km/h. A total of €92.5 million was invested in these works, including €64.4 million from the European Regional Development Fund. The upgrade of the 5.6 km long section was completed at the end of May 2008. In a second stage of construction, the connection of the new line, including a crossing structure, was built from 2010 to 2011.
  The construction of the Saale-Elster Viaduct started in 2006; some access roads had previously been built on platforms on stilts in a nature reserve. By February 2006 preconstruction work was under way in the Unstrut Viaduct area. In December 2006, the Saubach Viaduct was completed as the first major engineering structure on this section.
  The Federal Government and Deutsche Bahn AG announced in December 2006 that the project would be completed in 2015. In December 2006, a parliamentary group of supporters was founded to promote the "completion of the German Unity Transport Project No. 8“ with more than 20 members in the Bundestag. The parliamentarians wanted to work for an accelerated completion of the line.
  From the summer of 2007, a series of road overbridges were under construction between Erfurt and Buttstädt. In September 2007, the site equipment began to be installed for the west portal of the Finne Tunnel. On 30. April 2008, construction started on the Finne Tunnel, the longest tunnel on the route.
  Between September 2008 and 2010, archaeological excavations along the future route found evidence of more than 7500 years of human history. More than 100,000 finds were found in an area of more than 100 hectares. A total o
caption: First catenary masts being erected at Erfurt-Vieselbach (March 2012). This shows the separation of the track from the existing grid.
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