GERMAN Rail (DB) has received permission to construct the first stage of a planned new freight-only line largely beside the A5 motorway south of Offenburg in southwestern Germany.
The new line is part of a multi-decade programme of rebuilding work to construct a four-track electrified route suitable for both 250km/h passenger services and freight trains between the German city of Karlsruhe and the Swiss border at Basle.
A new roughly 90km freight-only, 160km/h double-track electrified line is planned from north of Offenburg to Buggingen, near Mülheim (Baden). The line will include a 6.75km tunnel under Offenburg avoiding the main station and is designed as part of major capacity enhancements between the North Sea ports and the north of Italy via the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland.
The Offenburg - Mülheim project has been divided into 10 sections for planning purposes. DB now has planning permission from the Federal Railway Agency (EBA) for the 11.4km long portion, known as Pfa8.1, between Riegel and March where the line will parallel the A5 motorway. Construction will begin in 2025 after some enabling works have been completed. Work is likely to take six years.
The Karlsruhe - Basle main line is one of the busiest double-track mixed-traffic railways in Europe, with around 400 trains a day, including up to 216 freight trains, 77 long-distance passenger trains and 103 regional and local trains in 2019, according to DB. Some parts of the line have already been widened to four tracks in the last two decades, although the central Offenburg - Mülheim section has not been significantly upgraded. The new freight line from north of Offenburg to Mülheim will be a key part of work in this section.
Section Pfa8.1 will include 23 road and river bridges and 13.5km of noise reduction barriers near inhabited areas including, for the first time in Germany, enclosed galleries (similar to tunnels but above ground) to minimise noise pollution. A wide variety of environmental protection measures has already begun on the route to minimise its impact on fauna and flora.
Passenger trains will operate initially on the new freight line when it is completed between the Riegel area and Buggingen to enable the existing line to be rebuilt for 200-250km/h operation. Temporary connections will be built between the old and new lines just north of Riegel in the 2030s and removed once all the work is complete in the 2040s. The northern section of the planned freight-only route including the Offenburg Tunnel is not likely to be complete until the early 2040s.
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