Main Line for Europe e.V. notes with great concern that the urgently needed new line between Ulm and Augsburg is being called into question for financial reasons. A halt to the project would be a serious setback – not only for the Bavarian Swabia region, but for the entire European rail axis from Paris via Stuttgart and Munich to Vienna and Budapest.

The Ulm–Augsburg line is a central link in the ‘Magistrale for Europe’. It eliminates capacity bottlenecks on one of the busiest rail links in southern Germany, enables noticeable reductions in journey times, ensures smooth operations in long-distance, local and freight transport, and connects the Ulm and Augsburg hubs to the Germany-wide integrated timetable. It thus makes a significant contribution to the success of the transport transition – not only nationally, but also in a European context.

The region itself is sending out a special signal: between Ulm and Augsburg, the district councils have given their cross-party support to the route variant specified by the government of Swabia. This broad consensus is exceptional in Germany. It not only illustrates the level of local support for the project, but also creates the necessary planning security. This avoids delays and conflicts such as those seen elsewhere with large infrastructure projects.

The new line is not a prestige project, but an indispensable component of modern, efficient and climate-friendly mobility. Halting the project for cost reasons would not only send the wrong signal at a time when strengthening the railways is a key transport and climate policy objective. It would also prevent the long-awaited regional rail service from being implemented – with trains running every 15 minutes between Dinkelscherben and Augsburg and every half hour between Ulm and Augsburg. Only the new infrastructure will create the conditions for local and long-distance transport to coexist in the future. Withdrawal would therefore be particularly painful for citizens: barrier-free stations, effective noise protection and frequent connections are already long overdue. Cancelling the new line would block the urgently needed progress in the transport transition in a growing region – and at the same time have a lasting negative impact on the development of the entire European main line.

The Magistrale for Europe reminds us that only when the Ulm–Augsburg bottleneck is eliminated can the European high-speed axis from Paris via Strasbourg, Stuttgart and Munich to Vienna and Budapest unfold its full potential. Withdrawal would therefore jeopardise not only a regional project, but also the future of one of the most important trans-European transport axes.