Digital signal boxes slow down
Riedbahn is initially traveling slower after renovation
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The renovation of the Riedbahn is on schedule, but not everything goes smoothly afterwards. The route should be open again in mid-December, but slower than before. A digital security system requires a little more time.
After the general renovation of the Riedbahn, Deutsche Bahn will only gradually introduce digital train control ETCS on the route between Frankfurt and Mannheim. This emerges from a confidential status report from the railway for the Bundestag's transport committee, from which the “Tagesspiegel” quotes. The commissioning of the built ETCS system will take place in several stages from December 15th, according to the paper. The railway and Transport Minister Volker Wissing had previously promised that all work on the currently closed route would be completed by December 15th.
As the newspaper learned from railway circles, not all of the new digital signal boxes can be connected to the network with the ETCS system by December 15th. The construction schedule on the Riedbahn is so tight that there is not enough time until mid-December to carry out all the necessary acceptance runs. The railway expects it will probably take several weeks to months until ETCS operations are running along the entire Riedbahn.
This means that ICE trains can temporarily only travel at 160 kilometers per hour instead of the planned 200 kilometers per hour on the affected sections of the route. The pace is therefore initially slower than before the general renovation. However, the passengers would not notice this, it is said in railway circles. The travel time is extended by at most 30 to 40 seconds. This delay can be absorbed via the travel time buffer. However, this reduces the buffer to absorb delays that occur elsewhere in the rail network.
Once the route has been completely renovated, there should be no more major work for five to ten years. The Riedbahn's susceptibility to faults would then be reduced by 80 percent. Dozens of other corridors are also being tackled using this model. Next up will be the section between Hamburg and Berlin from around August 2025. The initially announced blocking period of around half a year for general renovation cannot be adhered to at this point. As things stand, the route will be closed until April 2026, i.e. nine months.
