The wording of the open letter is as follows:
Dear Lord Mayor Dr. Knecht,
In its current submission 354/25 (Stadtbahn LUCIE - further procedure), the administration of the City of Ludwigsburg reaffirms its fundamental intention to remain in the Stadtbahn special-purpose association. However, it describes a scenario in the submission that clearly contradicts the core purpose of the association. For this reason, the Zweckverband Stadtbahn cannot agree to the proposed resolutions.
According to its statutes, the special-purpose association has the task of planning, building and operating the light rail system in the Ludwigsburg district. According to the city, however, only the line between Markgröningen and Ludwigsburg is to be reactivated; all other branches through Ludwigsburg (expansion stages 2 and 3 of the municipal council resolution from 2022) are to be put on hold for ten years and subject to a planning and spending freeze. It can also be seen from the submission that the city of Ludwigsburg in no way intends to run the line through the city area to Pattonville after the ten years have expired. This would require the line to be looped out of the station, but this is not to happen: "The final barrier-free stop of the reactivated railroad line must be at Ludwigsburg station," it says in your submission. Track 7 on the Franck-Areal site is being discussed for this purpose - a solution that Deutsche Bahn has already rejected several times: "Track 7 is a stub track that has to be approached at slow speed via track 5," according to the feedback from Deutsche Bahn. This would block track 5 for an excessively long time, which would not be in the interests of the railroad.
A stop on the west side of the station, which is structurally feasible according to the plans of the special purpose association and whose attractiveness has been proven by the highest benefit-cost index of all variants examined to date, is rejected by the city. This with the recurring reference to the incompatibility with the upcoming construction measures, the possible conflicts with bicycle traffic and the difficult laying of cables. In the opinion of the special-purpose association, however, it is possible to coordinate the construction measures, but the city persistently refuses to do so.
With regard to the still unresolved issue of the sidings for LUCIE near Ludwigsburg station, the special-purpose association has developed two proposed solutions, both of which were also rejected by the city.
Overall, the city - and therefore your administration - is becoming increasingly conspicuous for its negative stance: In its submission, the city has rejected the route along Kurfürstenstraße without giving any reasons, but at the same time it complains that the reactivated railroad will bypass the people of Ludwigsburg. This is an obvious contradiction.
The decision route via the ZOB and on through Leonberger Strasse and Hindenburgstrasse is rejected by the city due to the major traffic challenges.
After initial support, the city has now also ruled out routing the light rail system via Friedrichstrasse, citing supra-local traffic, without waiting for the results of the ongoing traffic studies. The current status of the study indicates that a reasonable coexistence of light rail and motor vehicle traffic on Keplerstrasse and Friedrichstrasse is indeed feasible.
The submission contains the indication that the city of Ludwigsburg would be open to a new rail connection between Pattonville and Aldingen to be operated by SSB. This idea can be clearly rejected: The expert has worked out in an initial calculation that this branch of the line has a benefit-cost index of 0.6 when viewed in isolation and is therefore not eligible for funding - the city administration is also aware of this. Their proposal should therefore be seen more as a symbolic fig leaf to avoid leaving the special-purpose association at all costs and thus avoid the financial consequences that such an exit would entail.
It should be noted that the city has not been fulfilling its duty to cooperate and thus its responsibility in the special-purpose association to the required extent for some time. Financial reasons always play a major role in the city administration's arguments, but by constantly demanding new planning variants, the city itself contributes significantly to the production of costs and the disruption of schedules.
The common goal of the special purpose association is to establish a light rail line between Schwieberdingen and Pattonville / Aldingen. Why should the towns of Remseck and Kornwestheim co-finance a railroad if Pattonville is not connected to the rail network at all? This applies to further financing, but also to the payments already made. This would raise the question of whether the chosen key for cost distribution is still the right one and whether compensation payments should be made to the disappointed municipalities. Special-purpose associations are - according to the clear intention of the legislator - designed for long-term, purpose-oriented cooperation. For this reason, members of a special-purpose association have no right of termination.
In 2021, the city of Ludwigsburg, together with other stakeholders, entered into a commitment to plan, build and maintain a light rail system in the district of Ludwigsburg in the knowledge that it would be permanent. As part of a public law contract, the parties involved agreed on the contents of the association's statutes. All members of the special-purpose association are therefore equally bound by the obligations set out in the statutes.
Since the special-purpose association was founded, the members have paid almost EUR 15 million in investments into the special-purpose association. These payments were made in reliance on each other and in the knowledge that a large part of this sum would be reimbursed in the form of subsidies once the project was completed. Of this sum, around EUR 3.8 million is attributable to the city of Ludwigsburg and around EUR 11 million to the other members of the association. If the city of Ludwigsburg should now fail to implement the project with funding, the other association members would suffer a loss. This is because no money from subsidies would be reimbursed and the investment of around 11 million euros would have been completely in vain. In this case, claims for damages against the city of Ludwigsburg would be at least of this magnitude.
The special-purpose association makes it clear that the highest body responsible for the interests of the special-purpose association is not the municipal council of the city of Ludwigsburg, but rather the association assembly. And it makes it clear that all other partners adhere to the purpose of the articles of association and strive for a future-oriented mobility solution for many thousands of people in the region plagued by excessive traffic - as was decided in 2022 with the broad agreement of all parties involved. It will therefore recommend at the special purpose association meeting that the resolutions of the Ludwigsburg municipal council - should they be passed in this way - should not be followed.
We therefore recommend that the municipal council rejects the resolutions in the proposal.
Transport Minister Winfried Hermann also comments on the light rail: "The Ministry of Transport sees the Ludwigsburg light rail as an important project for local public transport in the region. The urgently needed west-east connection from Schwieberdingen to Pattonville has impressive potential. In view of the current federal and state funding backdrop and the realistic prospect of a permanent assumption of the operating costs for the reactivation section to the state standard, we urgently recommend that the overall project be implemented as planned. If an application for funding under the federal GVFG is to be made for an overall project comprising reactivation and light rail lines, the implementation of the overall project must be ensured. A temporal connection, which should not exceed two to three years, must be ensured. Should it turn out in the further course of the project that the overall project is not implemented after all, it must be ensured that the realized part is economically viable in its own right. If the project components are applied for separately, the economic viability of each sub-project must be proven separately and - in accordance with the implementation stages - successively. The final stopping point must be selected in such a way that it does not hinder the overall Ludwigsburg light rail project."
Finally, we would ask you to forward this letter to the ladies and gentlemen of the municipal council.
Yours sincerely,
Dietmar Allgaier Jens Hübner Michael Ilk
Chairman of the Association Deputy Chairman of the Association Managing Director
