Status: 05/10/2022 5:22 p.m
In Cottbus, construction work has begun on a state-of-the-art railway plant with 1,200 jobs. It is considered a beacon project of structural change. From 2024, ICE trains will be serviced there.
The construction site resembles a lunar landscape. Construction machines are already in use. But today we officially start with the symbolic groundbreaking. Soon, next to the existing Cottbus railway works, a new, huge workshop will be built in which Deutsche Bahn wants to have its ICE 4 fleet serviced, the most modern series of high-speed trains. The first hall should be ready in 2024.
The schedule stands, says rail boss Richard Lutz. “Of course we have business pressure because we are expanding the long-distance fleet: a new ICE 4 comes every three weeks. At the end of the year we will have 360 long-distance trains in the fleet – 100 more than five years ago,” said Lutz. “Of course, these trains also have to be maintained – and with this new plant here in Cottbus, exactly these services are provided.”
1200 new jobs for the region
Two years later, in 2026, a second hall with four tracks should be ready. With the billion-euro project, the federal government in Lusatia also wants to compensate for the loss of thousands of industrial jobs after the end of lignite. “Structural change will succeed here,” said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “That’s a good sign that these are really hard facts and not just nice promises.”
According to Richard Lutz, the completion of the railway works should create around 1,200 new jobs in Cottbus. Talks are already being held with the energy company LEAG. “Of course we also have our cooperation agreement with LEAG, where we have agreed to open up this opportunity to LEAG employees who are looking for new perspectives by phasing out coal and who want to find this with us.”
No ICE connection to the station yet
For Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke, the plant is more than a flagship project. For Cottbus it is the heart of the city that beats here. “There is hardly a family where someone hasn’t worked at the Cottbus railway plant in the past. And that’s why it’s such a heart project for many people,” says Woidke. “The fact that this heart is now beating really hard again is wonderful news for many people, for the region, but of course also for those who earn their money in mining and energy today.”
At the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony in Cottbus: Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke, Railway Manager Richard Lutz, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and DB Board Member Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, responsible for digitization and technology.
Image: dpa
The plans are big. However, what Cottbus does not yet have is an ICE connection to the train station. This should be created as quickly as possible, says Woidke. “We are currently considering whether we need a new form of organization, a kind of task force or something similar.” This may be set up in the coming days and weeks to speed up the process.
Because in 2024 the first trains would be serviced in the new hall. “And our goal should be to let the ICE trains start and end in Cottbus as soon as possible.”
Ground-breaking ceremony for the Cottbus railway works
Daniel Mastow, RBB, May 10, 2022 2:06 p.m