The Extension of the Betuweroute: The Competition of Ideas in the Wesel District

Abstract

The extension of the Betuweroute is needed for fluent freight transport on rail and also for a rising share of rail in freight-traffic. In addition to that, the impacts of rising freight-traffic on Betuweroute especially by rail transit passing NRW had to be considered carefully so that suggestions for reduction of emissions can be made.

In order to achieve this goal and to activate the needed consensus around the proposal, Regionalverband Rhein-Ruhr (RVR) applied an informal planning procedure in close cooperation with County Wesel. The informal planning procedure should give solutions for an improved handling of rail freight and consider rail specific, spatial and urban aspects.

From the beginning it had been clear that this project was not a singular RVR project but a project that could be carried out in close co-operation with the local authorities only. Two teams of external consultants were chosen to work separately on three exemplary sections as shown on the right map. A team of university graduates ETH Zurich, Politecnico di Torino, University Utrecht took an overview on the whole section and worked on a broader range of themes. Three regional workshops were carried out with regional stakeholder. The results of these workshops, presented in this article, show alternatives for the development of the corridor, which may be more expensive then solutions provided by German Rail.