Better long-distance rail connections for Chemnitz are a long time coming! When the Chemnitz-Leipzig line is expanded, it is not expected to go into operation by 2025.
From the summer of 2022, long-distance trains between Berlin and BER Airport are to run again via Dresden to Chemnitz. © Maik Börner
In the future, a connection of the city to long-distance traffic with direct connections to Munich, Düsseldorf, Hanover as well as Berlin and Rostock is planned.
To do this, however, several routes would first have to be expanded, said a spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn at the request of the German Press Agency.
With the expansion of the Chemnitz-Leipzig route and the electrification on the Hof-Regensburg and Weimar-Gößnitz routes, commissioning is not expected by 2025.
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So far, only a direct connection via Dresden to Berlin seems secure. There should be an invitation to tender for this.
The state and the Central Saxony transport association have signed a financing agreement, according to which long-distance trains between Berlin and BER Airport via Dresden to Chemnitz should run again from summer 2022 – but possibly only twice a day in both directions.
On site, the poor connection of the city and the surrounding area to long-distance rail transport has long been a nuisance. This is also known in Saxony’s Ministry of Transport.
“The exclusion of the city of Chemnitz from long-distance passenger rail transport, which has existed since 2006, does not reflect the economic and structural importance of the regional center of Chemnitz and the region of south-west Saxony,” it says there.
The aim is to end this immediately, especially with a view to being named European Capital of Culture 2025. However, visitors from the west and south of Germany will not be able to get to Chemnitz by train without changing, the ministry admitted.
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A cultural special train from Chemnitz is in the train station in the capital’s airport BER. With the campaign, the initiative “Heartbeat – The Chemnitzer Citizens Festival” advertised Chemnitz as the European Capital of Culture 2025. © Fabian Sommer / dpa
An initiative recently presented an immediate concept to quickly create direct connections from Chemnitz to Berlin and Thuringia, for example, without having to change trains. An hourly connection to Berlin and BER Airport was required. A route via Elsterwerda or Riesa and Jüterbog is preferred instead of via Dresden.
Until now, travelers between Berlin and Chemnitz had to change trains on this route in Elsterwerda. The initiative, to which the passenger association Pro Bahn and the Industrieverein Sachsen 1828 belong, proposes, however, to combine the existing local transport lines and thus create a direct connection.
In addition, there is a demand to extend the regional trains from Erfurt to Chemnitz, which previously ended in Glauchau, in order to create a direct connection between the Erfurt-Weimar-Jena area and Chemnitz without having to change trains. On request, the Verkehrsverbund Mittelachsen (VMS) pointed out that the association assembly had refused an extension at the end of 2020. This would cost around 2 million euros annually and lead to cuts in other local rail passenger transport services, explained VMS spokesman Falk Ester. Thuringia also insists on diesel vehicles with tilting technology, which are six times more expensive to maintain than the electric trains used in the network area.
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With a view to the suggestion of a direct connection to Berlin via Elsterwerda or Riesa / Jüterbog, the VMS pointed out that the existing offers had to be combinable. This requires further tests with a view to the route allocation and the train technology used.
The biggest hurdle for the implementation of this plan is seen in the financing. “The total costs for a direct connection Chemnitz – Berlin for all involved transport authorities (VBB, VVO, VMS) will probably already be in the double-digit million range,” it said. Ultimately, the VMS as a service provider is guided by the political guidelines. “What is obvious, of course, is the argument of the faster connection via Elsterwerda.”
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