Wish list of requirements Local public transport planning in the Cologne-Bonn area
Bonn · There is a long wish list from the Cologne-Bonn region for the new local public transport requirements plan. However, local public transport planning has had a spanner thrown in the works in NRW. Here is some background.
It is generally undisputed that local public transport should be expanded. Every bus and train user contributes to the reduction of the ubiquitous traffic jams on the streets. But during local public transport planning in North-Rhine Westphalia, a spanner has been thrown in the works. The completion of the new local public transport requirement plan, which is an important basis for the implementation of transport projects, is being delayed. According to a statement made by the State Transport Minister Hendrik Wüst (NRW) to the state parliament, it will not be available before 2020.
The local public transport plan is updated every few years and the current one is from 2006. Around 1000 suggestions have been received from all over the state, said Maik Grimmeck, spokesman for the Transport Ministry. However, their inspection and appraisal is being held up. In September, Minister Wüst announced to the state parliament that they had parted ways with the surveyors “because of insurmountable differences over the systematic approach.”
Now the state must find a new partner through a Europe wide tender. This process is time consuming and means there will be an impasse for years. What effect will this have on the Cologne-Bonn region? The regional council of the Cologne district government sent a comprehensive wish list to the state in 2016 – from the S-Bahn between Cologne and Bonn (S17) and line extensions around Cologne to the construction of a tram from Beuel via Niederkassel to Cologne.
The traffic association Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) Bonn/Rhine-Sieg/Ahr warns against delays. “In Bonn and in the Rhine-Sieg district, we have a lot of renovation and new building work on our plate, such as the construction of the ‘Tausendfüßler’ and the Friedrich-Ebert bridge,” says district chairman, Rainer Bohnet.
Bohnet: “We have no time to lose.”
It is important to push ahead with local public transport projects to avert impending traffic congestion. “We have no time to lose,” says Bohnet. The VCD is demanding that Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg district seek a “rapid consensus” with the state. The Minister said in his announcement to the state government that “urgent, economically viable and necessary measures” should not be left unresolved.
NVR managing director, Norbert Reinkober, is more optimistic. “We have a regionally agreed list of projects. Our great advantage is that there is political consensus across all municipal boundaries.” The state has assured the NVR that delays in the new local public transport plan will not disadvantage them. “Of course we must continue to push our projects forward,” says Reinkober.
The cities and districts are also needed for these efforts. The city of Bonn is not being idle, assures its spokesman, Marc Hoffmann. He says the city is continuing to work on planning and cost-benefit analyses have been commissioned for the cable car and the tram on the right Rhine bank (Beuel-Niederkassel-Cologne). Hoffmann also said the city is committed to improvements to the Voreifel line (S23), which is to be electrified, and for the establishment of an S-Bahn on the left Rhine bank between Bonn and Cologne.
(Original text: Dominik Pieper. Translated by Kate Carey.)
