Construction site Hamburg-Hannover: Lies: Railway neglects regional transport

Niedersachsen's Minister President Olaf Lies has sharply criticized Deutsche Bahn, accusing the national railway company of neglecting regional public transport. Lies stated that the company focuses all its efforts on long-distance travel, showing insufficient interest in local services. This criticism comes amid a long-standing dispute over the expansion or new construction of the currently closed route between Hamburg and Hannover.

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The railway focuses everything on long-distance transport. Its interest in regional transport is underdeveloped. That is my impression.

Lies, an SPD politician, believes that expanding the existing line, specifically the Alpha-E variant, is a more pragmatic and quicker approach than building an entirely new one. He argues that prioritizing long-distance convenience, such as shaving 20 minutes off a trip from Hamburg to Frankfurt, misses the point. For him, the crucial factor is reliability and ensuring that connections work for the everyday commuter.

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I don't think the world is improved if I get to Frankfurt 20 minutes earlier from Hamburg. That is not the message. The message is reliability. Connections must fit.

"The message is reliability. Connections must fit," Lies asserted. He stressed that Deutsche Bahn must consider the commuter flows, which involve large numbers of people. Expanding existing routes, he contends, is essential for increasing capacity, rather than constantly pursuing new long-distance corridors. Niedersachsen is pushing for the Alpha-E expansion, a solution previously supported by a 2015 dialogue forum.

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We need capacity expansion, and for that, I don't always need new long-distance axes, but I need axes that are already used today, that I am allowed to expand.

Expressing frustration with the railway's pace, Lies stated, "The railway plans something that has no chance of working for 30 years, if it has any chance of implementation at all. But we must focus on what can be done quickly, not on options for our grandchildren." He finds it difficult to work with the railway when its planning seems to undermine the urgency for immediate capacity increases on heavily used routes like the one connecting Hamburg, Hannover, and Bremen.

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This solution is really faster, because it is the realistic one. The railway plans something that has no chance of working for 30 years, if it has any chance of implementation at all. But we must focus on what can be done quickly, not on options for our grandchildren.