The reconstruction of the main line of the Heidekrautbahn should be the first visible sign of the infrastructure program i2030 and show that the rail expansion in Berlin and Brandenburg is finally making progress. But now the project in the north of Berlin is again threatened with delays.
Actually, the route should be put into operation in 2023. December 2024 is now the start date. Those responsible do not want to give up this plan at the moment. But whether the date can be kept is becoming increasingly uncertain due to shifts in the project schedule.
The few time buffers have “shrunk, so that this goal is very ambitious,” said the Senate Transport Administration at the request of the daily mirror.
The reconstruction of the Heidekrautbahn was the first major project as part of the rail expansion program i2030, for which the groundbreaking ceremony took place. The official date was in December 2020. Things had to be done quickly back then, because there has been a planning approval decision for the conversion of Wilhelmsruh station in the Pankow district and a 600-meter-long section of track since 2010, which was in danger of being phased out.
However, there is still no approval for the rest of the 14-kilometer route including seven train stations to Basdorf – and now the planning approval process has been further delayed.
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Originally, the planning documents were to be laid out in the second quarter of 2022. The Senate Transport Administration now names August or September as the start for this. The decision should then be in place by mid-2023, so that the construction work on the route, including the new stops, can take place by the end of 2024. At least that’s the theory.
“The developments in and after the planning approval procedure and in securing financing are difficult to estimate in advance,” said the transport administration on request. “Should unforeseeable delays occur here, these can also affect the time of commissioning.” The uncertainty of another postponement is growing.
The reactivation of the main line of the Heidekrautbahn is intended to create an important additional local transport connection in the immediate vicinity of Berlin. The route would mean improved connections for Rosenthal and Blankenfelde as well as the Märkisches Viertel.
