Nürnberg-München High-Speed Line, Germany

To reduce direct Berlin-München (Munich) times to around four hours, German Railways (DB) is spending billions of Euros on new and upgraded lines, some sections of which may not be complete until 2016.

After Germany was reunified in 1990, a major priority for the country's politicians was the bringing together of two transport networks that had developed separately in the previous 40 years. Huge investment was promised for new or upgraded rail and road links linking the former east and west and to bring infrastructure in the east up to western standards.

The first projects focused on linking Berlin with northern and western Germany, particularly the heavily-populated Ruhr region and the former West German capital, Bonn, which retained some governmental functions. With the completion of the Hannover-Berlin Neubaustrecke (NBS) in 1999, attention moved to providing better links from Berlin and the major eastern cities of Leipzig and Dresden to central and southern Germany.

Journey times of more than six hours between Berlin and Munich are seen by DB as unacceptable. The fastest journeys were by a roundabout route via Braunschweig and Fulda using ICE services. Direct services using ICE-T tilting EMUs running over classic lines via Leipzig, Erfurt and Nuremberg took just over seven hours.

INFRASTRUCTURE

A major element of the project is a €3.6bn, 89km high-speed line (NBS) from Nürnberg to Ingolstadt designed for 300km/h operation. South from Ingolstadt, the existing railway has been upgraded to Ausbaustrecke (ABS) standards with trains running at up to 200km/h over the 82km to Obermenzing in the Munich suburbs. In Munich's northern suburbs, the Ingolstadt-Munich ABS is also being shared with regional, suburban and InterCity trains.

Much of the NBS runs alongside the existing A9 autobahn to minimise environmental disruption. In total, the route requires nine tunnels totalling 27km, three constructed by the cut-and-cover method while the remaining six are bored in the traditional manner.

Tunnel engineers on the project encountered many geological problems in the mountainous Frankische Alb area, where the limestone rock is said to resemble a Swiss cheese. Tunnels in this difficult area include the 7.7km Euerwang and 7.26km Irlahüll bores. Costs rose substantially as large cavities have to be filled with concrete to allow tunnels to pass through while retaining their rigidity.

In addition, 58 bridges have been built in conjunction with the line, including the 305m Grosshoebing Viaduct and a 169m structure over the Main-Danube Canal at Hilpoltstein. Other new bridges and flyovers at each end of the line segregate ordinary and local trains from ICEs. Unlike the Rhein-Main NBS, opened in 2002, there will be no stations on the Nürnberg to Ingolstadt line for ICE.

However, stations on passing loops at Allersberg and Kinding in Altmuehltal are for Regional Express services funded by the Bavarian state government. The NBS reduces the Munich-Nürnberg distance by 29km compared to the routing via Augsburg, taking up to 40 minutes off journey time of long-distance trains, also changing the arrival/departure direction at Nürnberg Hbf for these services.

As the line passes through environmentally sensitive areas, extra costs have been incurred on protective measures, including the use of electric machinery and an electric narrow gauge railway to remove spoil from the 1.3km Offenbau Tunnel as internal combustion engines are banned in that area. Other protective measures include soundproof barriers along much of the route and sound-reducing concrete slab track for 75km of the 89km NBS.

To cater for the increased number of trains and the higher speeds, extra tracks built and several curves realigned. Maximum speeds vary between 160km/h and 200km/h on this section as conditions allow. Soundproofing barriers have also been installed on this section in line with current tougher noise legislation. All stations on the ABS have been rebuilt with subways to all platforms rather than level crossings and 16 road crossings have been replaced by bridges.

ROLLING STOCK

No new long-distance rolling stock will be ordered for this high-speed line. ICE services work by a mix of ICE1, ICE3 and ICE-T trains. From December 2006 this NBS featured the first Regional Express services (operated by DB Regio) operating at up to 200km/h using Class 101 and former IC coaches.

South of Ingolstadt, services will also include 200km/h InterCity and EuroCity locomotive-hauled trains, regional RB and RE services and Munich S-Bahn suburban services south of Dachau.The NBS was the setting for a new world speed record by a locomotive of 357km/h (221.8mph) in September 2006 by the Siemens-built dual-voltage Class ES64U4 ‘Taurus’ 1216.050 of Austrian Federal Railways.

SIGNALLING AND COMMUNICATIONS

The NBS is controlled by two computerised interlockings at Inglostadt Nord and Nürnberg-Fischbach. Trains on the 300km/h line are controlled by moving block cab signalling which keeps trains at a safe distance from each other by indicating to drivers the maximum speed they should attain. GSM-R communications have also been specified in line with European Union interoperability rules for high-speed lines. On the ABS section south of Ingolstadt, all signalling has been renewed and replaced with a computer-based interlocking at Petershausen, north of Munich.

THE FUTURE

Journey times between Nürnberg and Munich have been reduced to just an hour. However, the real time savings for Berlin-Munich passengers will wait until completion of a new NBS through the mountains and forests of Thüringen from Erfurt to Nürnberg.

This 107km (66 mile) line has proved extremely contentious although completion is anticipated for 2016. Eventual savings are undoubted as the existing line is not suited to high speeds, even tilting stock, but the economic justification for the line is much less clear than in previous projects.

With the re-orientation of services following the Berlin Hauptbahnhof and north-south tunnel project complete, the Berlin-Leipzig upgraded for 200km/h, a new 23km line between Leipzig and Leipzig-Halle airport – part of a new 100km, €1.9bn line to Erfurt – opened in 2003 and the Nürnberg-Munich project, journey times between Berlin and Munich should be reduced to four hours with the opening of the Erfurt-Nürnberg NBS.

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