Demonstrating ample foresight and organizational capability, the German railways initiated these full-scale tests in preparation for the complete shutdown of the Frankfurt-Mannheim line for construction activities. As previously announced in a timely manner, the 78 kilometers that make up the main railway route connecting central Germany with the south of the country and Switzerland will be closed to operations for work starting from July 15, 2024. The construction sites will span five months during which the line, in the absence of traffic, will undergo radical renovation and enhancement.
To minimize disruptions and ensure an acceptable level of service, especially for the transit of goods, the federal railways DB have devised and prepared two alternative routes where initial transit trials have been conducted to test the overall capacity of the involved lines. Reports indicate that the tests have yielded fundamentally positive results for both chosen routes: only some minor issues have emerged, which will be overcome with optimal fine-tuning using the months leading up to July 15, 2024.
Both alternative routes have proven favorable for the transit of freight trains. Thus, it will be possible to utilize their capacity based on service needs and market demand. The two alternative routes now identified run parallel to the main Frankfurt-Mannheim line. The first passes through Darmstadt and Heidelberg, while the second utilizes the line between Mainz and Worms. Operators, while appreciating the commitment of the German railways to the infrastructure's enhancement, have always expressed concerns about the actual residual capacity of the network to support traffic increases. These trials conducted on alternative routes seem to dispel all doubts.
About 120 kilometers of tracks will be renewed on the Frankfurt-Mannheim, along with the replacement of 150 switches and 140 kilometers of overhead electric power lines. Most importantly, the entire signaling and safety system will be modernized and digitized. The expenditure could exceed one billion euros. The Frankfurt-Mannheim is considered one of the busiest railway routes in the entire European continent. According to bilateral agreements between Switzerland and Germany, the entire route leading to Basel should be quadrupled, also because it represents the northern access for the AlpTransit railway corridor reaching Italy through the base tunnels of Gotthard, Ceneri, and Lötschberg.
However, the schedule for the works is significantly delayed, and it is estimated that Germany will not complete the doubling works that fall under its responsibility before 2040, mainly due to the limited funding allocated to this program. It was during the quadrupling works in the German area that the Rastatt incident occurred on August 12, 2017, leading to the closure of this fundamental European railway axis for 51 days.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
