German railways and Lufthansa cooperate on domestic connections
Clean Energy Wire / Tagesspiegel
Germany’s railway operator Deutsche Bahn and airline Lufthansa are planning on making rail travel to airports easier and faster, laying the groundwork for future avoidance of short inland flights. More cities will be connected by the “train-to-flight” services to Frankfurt Airport: Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Münster and Munich will receive so-called sprinter connections that will shorten journeys between metropolises by up to 30 minutes, the companies announced. Harry Hohmeister, member of the Executive Board and CEO of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said in a press release that the initiative aimed at “strengthening the mobility offer in Germany and thus the domestic business location”, adding that “connected and integrated mobility benefits consumers and the environment”.
Despite the new faster train connections, Lufthansa is not planning on stopping its domestic flights altogether. Critics are pointing out that the airline continues to operate flights from Düsseldorf and Nuremberg to Frankfurt despite existing fast-train connections. The German Transport Club (VCD) is demanding to abolish all domestic German air traffic to reduce emissions from the sector, Tagesspiegel reports.
Deutsche Bahn is a private joint-stock company, with the Federal Republic of Germany as its single shareholder. Deutsche Bahn and Lufthansa already offer 134 daily feeder trains from 17 German cities to Frankfurt Airport. In the second half of 2021, another five cities will be added.
