page_title: Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway
section_title: Criticism
hierarchical_section_title: Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway / Criticism
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Protestpostkarte gegen die Errichtung der Neubaustrecke Nürnberg–Erfurt. Die Karte ist ein Teil einer Serie von vier Karten, die 1994 vom Büro Halle der Bürgerinitiative Das bessere Bahnkonzept herausgegeben wurde. English: A protest post card against the Nuremberg-Erfurt high-speed railway line. The card was published in 1994 for the citizen's group The better rail concept (Das bessere Bahnkonzept) as a part of a campeign against the new high-speed line. The text says: Close your eyes. GO TRHOUGH IT!
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 construction of the route was criticised for various reasons. Some criticism related to the route, since it was not possible to bundle different ICE routes over the line. Therefore, as with the existing Franconian Forest Railway, only one long-distance train service per hour and each way was expected.
  Critics such as Alliance '90/The Greens and Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland believed the project was pointless and a waste of public funds. They proposed instead to upgrade the rail network in northern Bavaria. Vieregg-Rössler (a consultancy), the Greens and the Verkehrsclub Deutschland (a lobby group for environmentally-friendly transport solutions, VCD) suggested, at the end of 1992, that traffic should run from Erfurt via Gera, Plauen and Hof to Nuremberg. Since 1992, Das bessere Bahnkonzept ("The better railway concept") acted as the umbrella organisation for the citizen initiatives that opposed the line.
  Prior to a joint meeting of the Bavarian and Thuringian state cabinets, citizens' lists with around 50,000 signatures were submitted against the project and against the A 73 autobahn project.
  Representatives of Deutsche Bahn also repeatedly criticised the project. In April 1997, the former DB Chairman, Heinz Dürr told the Transport Committee of the Deutsche Bundestag that the route "does not pay particularly". The head of the urban transport division wrote in the same year that the route made "no entrepreneurial sense."
  Nature conservationists criticised the far-reaching impacts of the new line on the landscape and called it the "most expensive U-Bahn in the world". Transport scientist Heiner Monheim demanded the end of construction in 2007. Instead of the large-scale project, numerous smaller measures would bring about improvements in the area. The majority of the customers did not need the route, just "the construction industry, so that they deserve a golden nose, or speed fetishists dreaming of a high-speed network in Europe."
  A citizens' initiative was launched around 2009 promoting a route via Lichtenfels, along the A 73, which according to its information would have been €0.5 billion cheaper than the route planned south of Coburg. The Federal Ministry of Transport rejected the proposed route due to its significant impacts. The Ministry also doubted the achievable savings on the basis of the proposed passage through Lichtenfels, Schney and Grub am Forst.
  In Bamberg the upgrade plans caused protests among citizens, as DB planned to build high noise barriers. Subsequently, the plans were rejected. Three new options emerged from a dialogue: optimised new noise protection on the existing route, which would be lowered at sensitive points, a tunnel for freight trains or a complete bypass of Bamberg to the east through the main stretch of carr (marshy forest), parallel to the A 73. The current draft of the Federal Transport Plan (Bundesverkehrswegeplan) for 2030 included the bypass along the A 73, because it has the best benefit/cost ratio.
  Prior to the application for planning approval on 2 May 2016, the Bamberg council passed a resolution by a majority on 27 April 2016 that rejected an eastern bypass. It was feared that the ICE stop at Bamberg station would be abandoned. The planning approval process was expected to commence by the spring of 2017.
caption: Postcard of the Citizen Initiative Das bessere Bahnkonzept (The better railway concept) against the new line (1994)
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