Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed railway line

Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed line is a proposed high-speed railway line crossing the Swabian Alb with speeds of up to 250 km/h and will run in many sections parallel to the A 8. In the east the line will connect with the Neu-Ulm station opened on 18 March 2007, in the west to the Stuttgart 21 project.

As a section of the Stuttgart–Augsburg new and upgraded line, the Wendlingen-Ulm project is also a component of the Magistrale for Europe from Paris to Budapest, which is supported by the European Union as part of its Trans-European Networks. The European Union is providing up to 50 per cent of the planning phase of the project and is expected to fund ten per cent of its construction costs.

Project

Once opened, the travel time for high-speed traffic between Stuttgart and Ulm will be only 28 minutes rather than the current 54 minutes, if a stop at Stuttgart Airport is omitted. This is part of Deutsche Bahn's "Netz 21" (network 21) concept, which envisages a reduction of the travel time between Frankfurt and Munich from over three and a half today to only two and a half hours in the future. However, this timing can only be achieved with a by-pass of Mannheim on the proposed Rhein/Main–Rhein/Neckar high-speed rail line, which would allow the travel time between Frankfurt and Stuttgart to be reduced to one hour. Deutsche Bahn has shelved the proposed bypass because of opposition to it in Mannheim.

27.1 km of the 58 km new line run in seven twin-tube tunnels. The estimated construction cost of € 2 billion, is affected by the difficult geology that the tunnels will run through. [ [http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/stn/page/detail.php/1261473 27 Kilometer Tunnel durch schwieriges Gestein] , "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" of 4 October 2006 de icon]

Sections

The project is divided into seven planning sections:
*"Section 2.1 a/b " connects Wendlingen with section 1.4 of the Stuttgart 21 project.
*"Section 2.1 c (Albvorland: Alb foothills)" runs parallel with the A8, including the 8.3 km-long Albvorland tunnel.
*"Section 2.2 (Albaufstieg: Alb ascent)" consists mainly of the approximately 8.8 km for the Bossler tunnel, two approximately 480 m-long bridges over the Fils valley and the approximately 4.8 km-long Steinbühl tunnel.
*"Section 2.3 (Albhochfläche: Alb highlands)" runs above ground and parallel to the A8.
*"Section 2.4 (Albabstieg: Alb descent)" runs through a tunnel into the city of Ulm.
*The integration of the line with Ulm station is carried out in "Section 2.5 a1".
* Finally "Section 2.5 a2 (Danube bridge)" connects to the Neu-Ulm 21 project.

Construction timetable

In May 2005 it was decided to commence construction. Under the plans of DB ProjektBau (Deutsche Bahn’s construction subsidiary), if construction had commenced in autumn 2005, it would have been ready to open in 2013. However, as a result of Federal Budget cuts commencement of construction has been delayed. On July 19 2007, it was announced by the Federal Government, the State of Baden-Württemberg and DB that the project had been officially approved. € 2.0 billion will be invested in the Wendlingen-Ulm high-speed line, along with € 2.8 billion in Stuttgart 21. Baden-Württemberg agreed to provide funds of € 950 million for the Wendlingen-Ulm line, but the Federal Government will not provide funding for it before 2016. This agreement is expected to bring forward the commencement of construction from 2016 to 2010 and completion to 2020. cite news
title =Einigung auf Finanzierung von Stuttgart 21
language =German
publisher =SWR3 Radio news
date =19 July 2007
url =http://www.swr.de/nachrichten/bw/-/id=1622/nid=1622/did=2387316/pyrcro/index.html
accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] cite news
title =Finanzierung für Stuttgart 21 steht
work =
pages =
language =German
publisher =Spiegel online
date =19 July 2007
url =http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,495398,00.html
accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] cite press release
title =Tiefensee: Durchbruch für die Neubaustrecke Stuttgart - Ulm - Augsburg und "Stuttgart 21"
publisher =Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs
date =19 July 2007
url =http://www.bmvbs.de/-,302.1003300/Tiefensee-Durchbruch-fuer-die-.htm
language =German
accessdate = 2007-07-20 ] [cite web
title = Memorandum of Understanding
work =
publisher =Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs
date =19 July 2007
url =http://www.bmvbs.de/Anlage/original_1003311/Memorandum-of-Understanding.pdf
format =pdf
doi =
language =German
accessdate = 2007-07-20 ]

Notes

References

*de|Neu- und Ausbaustrecke Stuttgart–Augsburg

External links

* [http://www.db.de/site/bahn/de/unternehmen/bahnwelt/bauprojekte/ausbau__neubau/stuttgart__ulm.html Deutsche Bahn –Stuttgart–Ulm new line] de icon
* [http://www.stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/media_fast/631/0410_loka_4csulmfi.pdf Route map] "Stuttgarter Zeitung" de icon