In view of the construction of the 7. Faculty of the university of bayreuth for life sciences in kulmbach the bayreuth/kulmbach region addressed the bavarian minister of transport hans reichhart (CSU). The request is to speed up train service on the upper franconia axis between bayreuth, kulmbach and bamberg.
The regional express is slowed down, especially on the single-track section between bayreuth and kulmbach, because it has to wait for oncoming trains at the stations in harsdorf and trebgast. That’s why the regional express takes 31 minutes to cover this 33-kilometer route, a few minutes longer than the regional train, which stops at all stations.
The signatories of the joint letter – bayreuth oberburg mayor brigitte merk-erbe (), bayreuth district administrator hermann hubner (CSU), kulmbach oberburg mayor henry schramm (CSU), kulmbach district administrator klaus peter sollner () and the president of the university of bayreuth, professor dr. Stefan leible – emphasize the importance of the upper franconia axis for commuters to work and education and as a feeder to the ICE to berlin.
Train traffic on the upper franconia axis bamberg/coburg-bayreuth/hof suffers enormously from the single-track sections. "A change in the timetable concept could lead to short-term improvements. But only a double-track expansion was able to eliminate the bottleneck, with even short expansion sections bringing relief in terms of timetabling and service disruptions.", brigitte merk-erbe, mayor of oberburg, summarizes the demands made on the free state.