Drop-outs and delays on the way to Sylt have been annoying travelers for a long time - a problem that forces Deutsche Bahn to massive investments. Already last summer, she had announced that she wanted to extensively renovate and modernize the route from Hamburg to Westerland. Now the company announced details about the plans.
The railway wants to renew from March 30 to about 200 kilometers of tracks , more than 33 switches and three bridges , said Michael Körber of the subsidiary DB Netz in Husum. In addition, eight level crossings and signaling equipment are to be modernized. The goal is to complete the renovation by 2022.
The company intends to invest a total of 160 million euros in the next four years. The work is a prerequisite for punctual and stable train traffic on the march, said a railway spokesman. Up to ten million euros will be invested annually in the subsequent maintenance.
The rehabilitation of the line was therefore designed to last four years so that train traffic would be affected as little as possible, said Christopher Ströh of DB Regio: "For tourists and Sylt commuters, the restrictions should be as small as possible." Therefore, the measures were inter alia agreed with the commuter initiative Sylt and the school holidays have been taken into account by six federal states.
Fine hairline cracks, sagging rails
After the completion of the route rehabilitation, an electronic interlocking will be set up in Westerland from 2023 onwards. The investment volume for the reported amounts to 41.9 million euros.
The Marschbahn over the Hindenburgdamm is the central traffic route to Sylt - it is in a sense the bottleneck to reach the popular North Sea island. Ironically, in the hot summer of 2018, here were serious defects: Inspectors discovered uneven and sagged rails and fine hairline cracks in some places.
The result: The train drivers had to reduce the speed to 20 km / h - and travelers schedule several hours late. "Traffic technology was a disaster," said Bahn spokesman Egbert Meyer-Lovis.