A Frankenbahn on the long bank – Bavaria

What is planned in Nuremberg, Erlangen and Herzogenaurach to connect the three cities by rail seems like an alternative to the state capital of Munich. The project stands on a “solid basis”, according to the Franconian self-promotion. The financing is “always in view”. What is meant is the StUB, the city-surroundings railway, which will be 26 kilometers long and, with its 30 stations, will connect schools, universities and large companies to local public transport by tram. As a regional tram that runs to global corporations.

That’s what they always said to the state government in Munich about the solid financing. Before it turned out that the second main route of the local S-Bahn will cost more than seven billion euros. Originally there was talk of 700 million euros. But how solid are the Franconian numbers? The StUB, which is supported by the three participating cities, has its own website. And it says the project will cost 428 million euros.

In the Federal Ministry of Transport in Berlin, from which most of the money should come, there is a slightly different number: 643.4 million euros. Accordingly, the StUB would be one and a half times as expensive as previously stated, with additional costs of a good 215 million euros. This isn’t loose change; but also no comparison to what is happening in Munich. The Berlin number for the Frankenbahn comes from an internal paper by the Federal Ministry of Transport, which “is not intended for publication”. It lists which local transport projects in Germany are to receive financial support from the federal government between 2022 and 2026.

Mayor Hacker has not the slightest doubt about the relevance of this transport project

According to the document, a grant of 475.39 million euros from Berlin is earmarked for the StUB. At nearly three quarters the cost, that’s a pretty big chunk. In addition, money should still flow from the Free State. The cities of Nuremberg, Erlangen and Herzogenaurach assume that together they will only have to raise 78 million. However, the funds from Berlin should only flow later. Nothing is planned up to and including 2024; In 2025 and 2026 it will be two million euros each.

And the StUB is listed in the federal funding program with the worst of three levels, category C. This reads: “conditionally” included. B and A mean: “provisionally” or “finally” included. Will the drastic increase in costs for the S-Bahn in Munich possibly be a stumbling block, possibly even a nail in the coffin of the central rail project in the Nuremberg metropolitan region? For Herzogenaurach’s mayor German Hacker, that would be a “stair joke”. After all, the StUB is one of the largest tram projects in Germany.

Not only the city of Nuremberg, which has a population of half a million, is to be connected by rail with the new Siemens campus in the south of Erlangen, the large locations of the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the city of Erlangen including the train station. The three global corporations in Herzogenaurach are also to be connected to the two major cities, especially for commuters: Adidas, Puma and Schaeffler. If the relevance of such a transport project were seriously called into question, he could only shake his head, says the social democrat Hacker.

The head of the town hall of Herzogenaurach also considers the S-Bahn expansion in Munich to be important. When it comes to discussions, however, he has got used to no longer speaking of the billions needed there. But by the thousands of millions – that makes the comparison to the planned railway in Franconia a little clearer, says Hacker. He can still remember that there was talk of “2000 million” for the main route in the state capital; then from “almost 4,000 million” – and in the meantime, as is well known, at least 7,000 million have been reached. He basically likes the reaction to this in southern Bavaria: “Never mind – we need it, so do it!”

In Franconia? Since the first plans were made in the 1990s, since a project group for a tram connection was formed more than 20 years ago and then at the latest since a feasibility study in 2012, there have been heated debates about cost increases again and again. Which hackers generally consider to be correct. But sometimes it depresses him when he reads pages and pages of critical letters to the editor in the local press about a project that has been in the pipeline for decades and is intended to get commuters from the streets to the rails in a metropolitan region. And of course there is one of the main points of criticism: What is all this supposed to cost!

However, the three cities assume that the federal and state governments will bear the vast majority of the costs. Is that now in danger given the billion dollar disaster in Munich? Erlangen’s Mayor Florian Janik (SPD) knows that each euro can only be spent once. But he insists on very clear “financing commitments” – and is deeply relaxed for the time being. The StUB is considered a project with excellent “traffic impact”. Even if the headwind in the region – for example because of the ecologically sensitive crossing of the Regnitzgrund – is not small. In professional circles, the StUB is still considered a showcase project for the switch from cars to rail, says Janik. In any case, he has not yet had any signals that this could change because of the escalating costs in the state capital. But be careful, that’s for sure.

The fact that only two million euros are to come from the federal government for the StUB in 2025 and 2026 does not yet ring the alarm bells for Hacker and Janik. The mayor of Herzogenaurach attributes this to the fact that the large expenses for the Frankentram only accrued afterwards. In the current schedule, construction is scheduled to start in the middle of the decade. This is what it says on the website of the StUB special-purpose association, in which Nuremberg, Erlangen and Herzogenaurach have joined forces.

The association is optimistic that the money for the StUB will flow

Before construction can begin, however, the association must first obtain the building permit, which is no trivial task given the new route through Erlangen and is likely to be extremely time-consuming. Especially since some critics, especially in Erlangen, are now hoping for alternatives to the long-planned tram route, such as electric buses. The rather loose time specification for the start of construction should therefore have its reasons.

However, Hacker and Janik are already aware that large transport projects in the south and north of the Free State could “compete” with each other. If the high costs for the new S-Bahn tunnel in Munich actually get in the way of the StUB, the city of Nuremberg would be left in the dark. Advance payments have long since been made there, and a tram line has been routed along a new route to the “Am Wegfeld” station in the northern tip of the city. The end point is in the middle of the rather sparsely populated Garlic Country, within sight of the airport. The bus stop there, which will later become part of the StUB, is currently used to switch to buses to Erlangen.

As soon as Herzogenaurach and Erlangen have also finished their route, it should be possible to drive from Nuremberg’s “Plärrer” – a central traffic hub – via said “Wegfeld” directly to the new Siemens campus or to the city of Erlangen without having to change trains. And what if the major metropolitan project is still paralyzed, or should it even come to a standstill? Nuremberg’s Lord Mayor Marcus König (CSU) has been chairman of the special-purpose association for a year and a half. Despite the immense cost increases in Munich, he is not worried about fear. König only asked Prime Minister and party friend Markus Söder on Friday morning: “There is nothing to be heard that we are left behind.” One is still in the planning phase, “we don’t drive any excavators around yet”. As soon as the time comes, the money will flow.

In any case, one cannot say: “In Munich we are building a second main line and the rest of Bavaria will be left behind,” says König. He’s worried about something else. As soon as the details become known as to where exactly the tram is to run across Erlangen, the university town is likely to have another citizens’ initiative in the house. Anyone who follows the columns of letters to the editor in the local press must assume that such a thing will not be a sure-fire success for the StUB.