If the Bottwartalbahn receives a "new boost" in the literal sense, despite the low cost-benefit factor that has already been determined, this would be a welcome new perspective for the local transport connection from Marbach through the Bottwartal to the district of Heilbronn.
"The high potential of the Marbach/Neckar - Heilbronn railroad line was the basis for the studies that we have already carried out and which have been intensively coordinated with the neighboring municipalities and the neighboring district," emphasizes Jürgen Vogt, the first state official responsible for local transport in the Ludwigsburg district office. "Unfortunately, this potential is not sufficiently reflected in the cost-benefit assessment." In all the variants examined, the cost-benefit factor determined was well below the value of 1.0 required for funding. The parties involved hope that the change to the funding guidelines announced by the federal government, the so-called standardized evaluation, will bring about an improvement. The responsible federal-state working group has already begun its work, but results are not yet available. For this reason, the working group of the districts of Ludwigsburg and Heilbronn and the towns along the route have decided to leave the feasibility study and cost-benefit assessment that have already been carried out in abeyance for the time being. As soon as the revised standardized assessment is available from the federal government, the investigations are to be completed.
The possibility of a case-by-case decision recently mentioned by Transport Minister Winfried Hermann (Greens) can apply to the reactivation of lines that do not currently achieve the cost-benefit factor of 1.0. According to the state, it is intended to bridge the transitional period until the funding guidelines are changed and could open up new prospects for the Bottwartalbahn in anticipation of the upcoming changes, according to First State Official Vogt. "The state has given the Marbach-Heilbronn line a new boost with the publication of the results of the potential analysis, but at the same time, as a subsidy provider - alongside the federal government - it insists on the economic viability of the line." In order to sound out all the possibilities of reactivation, the Ministry of Transport has been asked for a meeting.
