To “Wegfeld”, that’s the good news from Nuremberg, you can now be chauffeured with two trams, the 4 and the new line 10. For non-Nurembergers: Wegfeld is located on the northern outskirts of the city and contains a rough estimate of three houses , a small gas station, a waste glass container, no milk can. This Wegfeld is a good place, especially now in the hustle and bustle of December, for all those affected by the Christmas market.
Are you standing at the Plärrrer – and just want to get out? No problem at all. Since Sunday you have been coming to the path field in question every five minutes, which aesthetically discerning people may consider a non-place; but in reality it is the temporary connection point in the middle of the Knoblauchsland prairie where you have to change to the bus to Erlangen – as long as that is still necessary.
Which brings us to the moderately good news. Something similar to a tram from Nuremberg to Erlangen was planned more than 100 years ago; in 2014, the city-surrounding railway, the StUB, was actually put on the track. So in Nuremberg they got to work, the idea is not completely absurd: a line from the city of half a million people to Erlangen (the world’s largest Siemens site, headquarters of one of the republic’s largest universities) to Herzogenaurach (headquarters of three global corporations).
All precautions have now been taken in Nuremberg, and Wegfeld should have a say in the title of “best-connected hamlet in the world”. In Erlangen, on the other hand? The “Do we need this?” debate has just flared up again.
The reason is new numbers. The StUB is now no longer estimated at 372 million euros in investment costs, as was thought in 2019, but at 635 million euros. Although such an increase in a major project that was valued years ago, i.e. before the multiple crises, is about as surprising as Christmas – it is of course grist to the mill of all those for whom a tram across the Regnitztal (and in their front garden) has long been a thorn is in view.
What you need to know: No rail has yet been laid in Erlangen. And whoever is writing letters to the editor these days Erlanger News (“Bottomless Barrel”), one must have doubts as to whether one will ever be laid. A council request could stop that. Either way: no one in Nuremberg will ever regret having the Wegfeld excellently connected, hopefully.