A railway signal mast, partly overgrown by a tree, stands in the middle of a small park.

Rails or trains: none.

There hasn’t been a train in Groß-zimmern in southern Hesse for decades.

The signal mast and a memorial stone next to it are just a reminder of where the station stood before it was demolished in 1976.

The small town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district is no longer connected to a rail network.

That could change, a connection to Darmstadt is being examined.

"Rail is an environmentally and climate-friendly mode of transport," Economics and Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (Greens) recently said about the updated report on the reactivation of railway lines, drawing a positive interim balance.

"The reactivation of closed routes is a contribution to offering attractive alternatives to the car away from the metropolitan areas." According to the report published by Hessen Mobil, seven closed routes have been reactivated since 1995, eleven routes are currently being investigated, such as the one between Groß-zimmern and Darmstadt or already planned.

A total of 24 routes are examined in depth in the report, and a feasibility study is in progress for some, such as the former rail connection from the former US air base in Erlensee to Hanau.

According to Hessen Mobil, these 24 routes cover an area of ​​103 communities in which more than 1.3 million people live.

"Between 1920 and 2010, rail traffic was discontinued on 67 routes in Hesse," says the report.

A decision has obviously already been made for large rooms

For the Pro Bahn passenger association, the report is window dressing.

He accuses the state government, transport associations and a large part of the 21 districts of "lack of ambition and ideas".

Seven reactivations are a misrepresentation.

Actually there are three.

The others are related to the expansion of the Rhine/Main S-Bahn or an associated mixed operation and cannot technically be described as reactivation.

A decision has obviously already been made for large rooms.

"We are not pursuing a reactivation of the Groß-Zimmern-Darmstadt railway connection as a railway line," says the Darmstadt-Dieburg local transport organization Dadina.

Together with the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV), a benefit-cost study was carried out in 2019, which had a negative benefit-cost factor.

Plans for a tram connection are currently underway.

Plans and investigations are also underway elsewhere.

The Aartalbahn once rolled through the Taunus between Wiesbaden and Diez in Rhineland-Palatinate - it is currently being examined whether this should be possible again in the future.

The state capital of Wiesbaden and the Rheingau-Taunus district, together with the RMV, have launched a feasibility study for the southern section to Bad Schwalbach.

The initiators expect a result in the course of this year, as an RMV spokesman announced.

Railway is under monument protection

"The investigation is intended to provide information about what technical measures would be necessary to offer scheduled passenger trains there again." It complements an investigation of the section from Bad Schwalbach to Diez that was carried out two years ago.

Before commuter trains can run, museum trains could already roll on the section near Wiesbaden.

The Nassauische Touristik-Bahn association had already offered museum trips with steam trains until 2009.

Reopening is currently planned between the Wiesbaden-Ost station and the Wiesbaden-Landesdenkmal stop.

Because of its unique route and social-historical importance as a princely and bathing railway, the railway is under monument protection.

In northern Hesse, after the Lower Edertalbahn, the Upper Edertalbahn could also be reactivated.

According to Hessen Mobil, a feasibility study on the twelve-kilometer route between Frankenberg and Battenberg (district of Waldeck-Frankenberg) was successfully completed.

The associated benefit-cost study (NKU) is currently still running.

Number of users more than doubled

The study therefore considers a joint operating concept with the 31-kilometer route of the Lower Edertal Railway between Frankenberg and Korbach.

According to the North Hessian Transport Association (NVV), their reactivation, which cost a total of 22.9 million euros, has paid off for the entire region, contrary to all fears, criticism and expectations.

More than 340,000 passengers use the route, which was inaugurated in September 2015, every year.

"This means that the number of users has more than doubled since it was launched," says spokeswoman Sabine Herms.

The connection, which was shut down in 1987, is used not only for the daily journey to work, school and training, but also for trips to tourist destinations such as the Edersee, the Kellerwald National Park or the Willingen ski area, explained Herms.

They can also be reached by train from North Rhine-Westphalia, southern and central Hesse.