Die Gruenen in Saxony have floated the Free State as a potential site for a new Deutsche Bahn ICE maintenance plant after the company canceled plans to build one in Bavaria. Gerhard Liebscher, member of the state parliament for Die Gruenen, emphasized on Sunday in Dresden that the transport turnaround is a central element of the Alliance Green political DNA and that every opportunity that presents itself should be seized.
A new ICE plant could combine climate-friendly mobility, structural development and future-proof jobs, Liebscher said. "We have the land, the expertise and the skilled workers." Deutsche Bahn plans to invest around 400 million euros in a new maintenance plant, but last week had abandoned its plans for a site in Bavaria.
Liebscher pointed to the long tradition of wagon construction in Lusatia and cited Görlitz as an example. There, he said, the light maintenance sector could be an ideal complement to the Cottbus site in Brandenburg, where heavy maintenance work for high-speed traffic is planned. He added that Görlitz was also of interest because of the planned long-distance line between Berlin, Cottbus and Görlitz in the context of structural change in the coal regions. Die Gruenen politician asked the SPD-led Ministry of Economics in Dresden to contact Deutsche Bahn to explore the possibilities.
