It’s the plus sign that counts. The general rail transport plan, which the Frankfurt city council has just approved, is only complete with the addition “+” after the year 2035. Because the rail expansion described therein will at best be in the planning stage over the next nine years. The target mainly has something to do with the fact that structural data and forecasts extend until 2035.
So it’s too early to look forward to a subway connection on your doorstep in the north of Bergen. The general transport plan is not an expansion program, but rather a “systematic collection of facts on conceivable rail expansion projects”. This is how the head of the mobility department, Wolfgang Siefert (The Greens), put it somewhat bureaucratically. Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Knacker had previously chosen the pathetic variant: “We are improving today, working tomorrow and also keeping an eye on the day after tomorrow.”
The IHK also praises the decision
A basic assumption of the plan illustrates how far this look into the future extends. It assumes that all previous projects, such as the U5 extensions to the Europaviertel and Frankfurter Berg, the U4 gap closure and the West regional tangent, have already been completed. But only two of them are under construction.
The debate in the city parliament has shown that Frankfurt’s local politicians are looking in the same direction when it comes to rail transport. There is not often agreement on traffic matters in Frankfurt. It is therefore a good sign, especially six weeks before a local election. The Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry also speaks of a step in the right direction and is calling for rapid implementation. In Wiesbaden, for example, the Citybahn is being discussed again after five and a half years have passed due to a negative referendum.
In Frankfurt, on the other hand, the times when opponents and supporters of the subway and trams were irreconcilable are, fortunately, largely over. Even if this occasionally flashes up in the contributions of Manfred Zieran (Ökolinx). The fact that the other local politicians usually react to this with a groan because they don’t want to fight the old battles again is a good sign.
Both rail variants have their advantages – speed and large capacity here, lower construction costs and a denser network of stops there. Technical criteria must decide which is better in each individual case. And the fact that attractive local transport reduces congestion on the streets no longer needs to be explained to anyone in the much-cited growing city.
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