The renovation of the Berlin-Hamburg main line started at the beginning of August and will keep the section closed for the next nine months, significantly affecting rail freight services. Less than two weeks into the project, controversies are already arising. For example, there are construction works also along the available alternative routes, leading to dozens of trains being slowed down or even cancelled.
The issue thus concerns the coordination of construction sites, as highlighted by DB Watch, a project aimed at monitoring all the renovation projects carried out by DB InfraGO in Germany. The German infrastructure manager responded to this by saying that “headquarters insisted on implementing all closures and refused to stagger them” despite many warnings from industry associations.
Night time closures
More specifically, there will be interruptions of traffic at night time (traditionally rush hour for freight trains) along the Bad Bevensen–Bienenbüttel and Frellstadt–Königslutter–Schandelah sections. Because of this, there have been freight trains covering 50 kilometres in four hours – not the most competitive transit time to use an euphemism. “As long as construction work is not better coordinated, any diversion concept that works on paper will remain a risky illusion in practice”, DB Watch stressed.
