The results of the feasibility study commissioned a year ago for an alternative route to relieve the Rheingau and the entire Middle Rhine Valley from freight train traffic should actually be available by the end of the year.

Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (The Greens) announced this to Petra Müller-Klepper (CDU), member of the Rheingau state parliament.

But nothing will come of it.

“The subject of investigation is particularly complex.

The completion of the feasibility study commissioned by the federal government can therefore only be expected in the coming year, ”said the Al-Wazir ministry when asked.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis and for Wiesbaden.

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Frank Gross is only partially annoyed about this. Because the citizens 'network “Pro Rheintal” led by him sets different priorities in the fight against rail noise on the Rhine than, for example, the competing “Citizens' initiative in the Middle Rhine Valley against environmental damage caused by rail”. Shortly after he took office, the latter warned the new Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) to vigorously advocate the construction of an alternative railway line east of the Rhine Valley. The initiative led by Willi Pusch can refer to Minister Al-Wazir, for whom this option is "the most promising way to achieve a sustainable and mutually acceptable handling of rail freight transport in the region".

Gross vigorously contradicts this. This alternative route is not a solution because it will take “at least 70 years” of discussion, planning, approval and construction. That is much too late for the people in the valley. In addition, according to federal law, rail noise in and of itself is no reason to build an alternative route costing up to ten billion euros. Not to mention a Rhine Valley tunnel system that is twice as expensive.

In fact, three years ago the Federal Ministry of Transport gave the sobering information for the entire Rhine Valley that in order to economically justify a new line for freight traffic, passenger and freight traffic on the rails in the Middle Rhine Valley "significantly, by a factor of around ten “, Above the number of trains forecast by 2030 would have to increase. But hardly anyone in the Rhine Valley wanted to admit that. For many politicians and citizens, the alternative route is the only solution, even if it could only be implemented in the distant future.

Gross therefore advocates "Tempo 50" for freight trains in the towns along the route.

Such a speed limit, which the second major railway noise citizens' initiative only requires for freight trains carrying dangerous goods, would reduce the noise by ten decibels and thus "felt" by half, according to Gross.

From his point of view, a night driving ban for freight trains between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. would also be ideal, which, analogous to the demands of aircraft noise opponents, also has many supporters in the Rheingau.

But Gross says: "We have to remain realistic."