Row over routes for LHV trials / where and how still unclear

Berlin. In the row over the routes for the planned trials of longer, heavier vehicles (LHVs), the German Pro-Rail Alliance has accused the federal transport minister Peter Ramsauer (from the CSU) of taking a frivolous approach. "If such unnecessary trials must be carried out against the will of the public and the majority of the federal states then people have a right to know on which roads they are likely to risk encountering one of these 25 metre mega trucks in the near future," said Dirk Flege, managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, on Tuesday in Berlin. Instead, the federal transport ministry has, to date, only published an incomplete route network and has called on the federal states to "belatedly register" suitable routes by September 2. The provisional plan lists, above all, motorways and federal trunk roads, but only the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia have additionally registered state and lower-order roads. "This is a question of safety that requires a transparent approach, which is lacking, in our opinion," criticised Flege.

The Pro-Rail Alliance called on the ministry to put all the trial facts - where and how - on the table. However, it is not only the route network that is unclear: the question of whether there is an upper limit for the participating companies has also not been clarified. "The draft exemption provision does not reveal the maximum number of mega trucks that we will have to expect," said Flege. The ministry's draft provision also puts off having to  make a clear statement on an academic concept for monitoring the 'trials', which is actually the principal reason for holding them. "The ministry's manner of dealing with its own academic concerns is frivolous and give the impression that any expert monitoring is simply a fig leaf to conceal the intentions of the manufacturers."

Flege pointed out that the federal transport ministry's provisional route network plan has already caused confusion in numerous state ministries. The transport minister from the state of Hesse, Dieter Posch (FDP), was surprised that a route network plan and the draft exemption provision were sent out before the federal states' own working group on the issue had even finished its task, according to the FAZ newspaper. A spokesman for Schleswig-Holstein's transport ministry said that the provisional route network plan did not correspond with the routes that the state itself had registered, according to the Kieler Nachrichten newspaper. "Minister Ramsauer's trials obviously do not enjoy the required confidence of even the few states that agree with them," said Flege. The fact that the federal government is nevertheless intending to force "mega-truck happiness" onto those states that are explicitly opposed to LHVs is unacceptable. Flege cited the example of Baden-Württemberg, where the new Green / SDP coalition has excluded the possibility of participating in the trials. In spite of this, the provisional route network plan contains 140 kilometres of motorway in Baden-Württemberg that were obviously registered with the federal transport ministry by the previous state government.

The question of whether the federal transport ministry can simply use an exemption provision to commence the LHV trials, therefore bypassing parliament's second chamber, the Federal Council, is a matter of controversy among the federal states. The Pro-Rail Alliance has announced a comprehensive legal assessment of the current exemption provision, scheduled for September 2, to ascertain whether it permissible under law.

What are the positions of the federal states on the German government's plans for LHV trials?

* Although Thuringia's transport minister Carius from the CDU supports the LHV trials, the state government's coalition agreement (CDU-SPD) is clearly against further trials of LHVs. It states: "The pilot project on the use of 'Longliners' will not be extended by the Free State of Thuringia." The SPD in Thuringia is opposed to the trials.

Additional information (in German)