Post photo: Subway tunnel | © Shutterstock
In all discussions that revolve around our Europe or our environment, the importance of a functioning pan-European rail network comes up again and again. Everyone will probably agree that you would do a lot to save our environment if you could divert traffic to rail. But what does that have to do with saving Europe? Quite simply, I quote here once Detlef Stern, who also discussed it several months ago, and who mentioned that for a European awareness and a functioning European Union it is imperative that one must be able to buy a ticket to Porto at the train station in Heilbronn and then board a train that will take you there without any major adventures — a few changes are already included in the calculation.
But let's now come to the Gäubahn, which is once again in the newspapers today (ia FAZ, 09.05.2022) is discussed because the federal government would like to assume the costs for a partial expansion there and this with the aim of Project Stuttgart 21 still halfway to get it working. Because as we can read it now, the plans are several decades old and two things have been forgotten (!), namely the importance that rail should have in the future and the resulting increase in passenger numbers.
We've known for a long time that our responsible politicians aren't exactly brilliant, but it's still somewhat surprising that they don't even consult experts before making decisions. In any case, we have also learned that the Greens in Baden-Württemberg are only a slightly improved union (the current Starbucks of the parties) and have just as much left for our environment as they do. You can see that in the expansion of wind power or in the dismantling of our rail infrastructure - so back to the subject of the Gäubahn!
Actually, the Gäubahn is — was — like them Frankenbahn Incidentally, it is also part of the European railway line Berlin – Milan and could be a very attractive north-south connection within Europe, especially today with increasing traffic.
And as we unfortunately had to witness (Tunnel disaster in Rastatt) such a route would also be a good alternative, especially when there are difficulties on the Rhine line. For this reason alone, the Gäubahn would have to be expanded as part of a main line.
And what is our government doing, whether black, red or green? It relocates the Gäubahn to Stuttgart Airport and makes it a slightly better commuter route. With this and with the refusal to expand the Frankenbahn, there is now no question: our governments do not want a European rail network in Europe and certainly not in Baden-Württemberg, they only want to be celebrated as provincial princes! And the best way to do this is to keep to yourself. Stuttgart 21 as a good transport connection to the Oktoberfest in Munich is no longer enough to teach me otherwise.
These professional politicians simply do not understand that our environment and ultimately also our economy are left behind.
"Wealth and speed are what the world admires and what everyone aspires to; railroads, express posts, steamships, and every possible facility of communication are what the educated world strives for, to outdo, to over-educate, and thereby to remain in mediocrity."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, letter to Carl Friedrich Zelter (June 6, 1825)
