Unit 9: Transportation systems -
roads, railroads, harbours, waterways, airports

(Alfred Pletsch)

The central location of Germany in the heart of Europe has always had an important impact on the development of its transportation and communication systems. As early as in Neolithic times, if not earlier, civilizations expanded and retreated on the European continent. The physical environment of Germany made these movements relatively easy, since the Northern Lowlands as well as major north-south passageways, such as the Upper Rhine valley, have always functioned as easy corridors for human migrations. The great obstacle between northern and southern Europe were the Alps. A recent discovery of a body under a glacier in the Ötztal [1] in Italy have given evidence to the existence of passages across the Alps as early as 4000 B.C. With the expansion of the Roman Empire a whole network of roads of some 320,000 km length was constructed in Central Europe, most of which were stone paved highways. But this network only extended up to the boundaries of the empire. It ended at the Rhine and Danube rivers. Very little is known about the early road systems beyond these rivers in what was called Germania at that time.

While the decline of trade during the Dark Ages curtailed the use of roads, the revival of medieval mercantile activities prompted a renewal of the older and/or the construction of new trade routes. They became the trading backbones of the medieval urban system which evolved between the 11th and the 13th century. In the following centuries, the European road system developed very much within the political boundaries of the different nations. Whereas Paris became the all-important hub in the road system of highly centralized France, Germany was missing such a single focal point because of its highly fragmented political structure. As a consequence, Germany had a road system which connected many political states and was very important to trade movements across the continent.

As a result of the automobile, Germany's road system has improved considerably during the 20th century. This holds particularly true for its network of four lane expressways, the famous Autobahns. Especially in the West German Laender, the Autobahn system has continuously been improved and lengthened since the 1950s, whereas East Germany even neglected its network from earlier years. The total length of the Autobahn network [2] today is some 11,000 kilometres. Expansion is continuing today even though environmentalists have many concerns and would like to stop it.

Germany's railroad system is an important mover of goods and people. Since its beginnings in the mid-19th century [3], it was owned and operated by the state. Only recently it was privatized as a share holder organization, the Deutsche Bahn AG [4]. The total length of the rail [5] is some 43,800 kilometres. In the eastern half of the country, the former DDR, the system is in poor condition and needs major maintenance and improvements. Despite the increasing importance of the automobile, German railroads still carry many passengers, even though many secondary railroad lines have been abandoned for economic reasons. Particularly efficient is the inter city express (ICE) system which connects most of Germany's major cities. One of the most prestigious new rail projects is the so-called Transrapid [6] , a high speed train that works on the principle of an electromagnetic levitation system. This train is to interconnect Hamburg and Berlin at a speed of 400 kilometres/hour by the year 2005. The travel time between the two cities will be one hour, equivalent to the time an aircraft needs to cover the same route.

The road and railroad system of Germany is further underguided by a good water transport system. Hamburg and Bremen/Bremerhaven are the major harbour cities on the North Sea coast, through which, already in the Middle Ages, a flourishing trade in cloth, wine and wool was organized. Much later these two harbours became the gateways to the New World, where millions of Germans boarded ships for a better life abroad. They also became important industrial locations for the ship building sector. The harbour cities around the Baltic Sea, such as Kiel [7], Lübeck [8], Rostock [9] and some others, had specialized very early in the trade of furs and amber, after the Hanseatic League (or Hansa) had formed an economic union of many towns of northern Europe. This league in a sense formed the first international free trade zone in the world.

Natural [10] and artificial [11] inland waterways have for a long time played a major role in Germany's inland water transportation system. Many of the boats and barges that use it now are loaded with intermodal containers that can be transshipped by other means of transportation as well. But it is also possible to move commodities by river and canal from the Atlantic to Russia or the Ukraine. Amongst Germany's rivers, especially the Rhine and the Elbe represent important traffic links between major economic centres. The Rhine, after is was canalized early in the 19th century became Europe's most important waterway. Even today there is a continuous going and coming of barques and ships. Of great importance is the Mittelland Canal, which runs along the southern edge of the North German Lowlands, connecting almost all of the north flowing German rivers. The Kiel Canal (in German: Nord-Ostseekanal) also is a product of the 19th century, connecting the North and the Baltic seas. Completion of the Main-Danube-Kanal in 1992 was the latest construction even though its economical and environmental impacts have been very disputed. Yet it was a major achievement and may become quite important in the new open European realm. With the new Main-Danube-Kanal in place, it is now possible to go by waterway from the North Sea (Mouth of the Rhine) to the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea, a stretch of 3,500 kilometres, connecting several eastern European states to western Europe.

The most recent addition to Germany's transportation system is air transportation. Recently, Frankfurt has ranked first of European's airports for freight and second to London Heathrow for passenger transport. It also has been Lufthansa Airline's [12] home since its founding in 1926. More than 52,000 people work in this enterprise worldwide (28.000 in Germany). Almost 3,500 planes take off each week, heading for more than a hundred destinations all over the world. 30 million passengers per year have used the airport over the last years, a number which is expected to increase considerably in the near future. The second most important international airport is Munich [13] (München - Franz Josef Strauß), with a growing number of international destinations since its opening of a new airport in 1992. Charter flights very often also leave from Düsseldorf Airport. Berlin's importance as an international airport centre has rapidly increased with the fall of the wall, and will certainly continue to do so in the near future. All other major cities of Germany have regular flights to several European destinations. It must be mentioned, however, that flying in Germany (and Europe) is expensive. High fares are partly the result of the protection by the respective governments of their former state owned airlines (like Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa, and others). In 1997, Lufthansa has been privatized (as well as some others), exposing the company to a harsher local and international competition as it used to face in the past.

[1] http://www.oetzi-dorf.com/eng/seite2.htm (28.08.2003)
[2] http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/verk/verktab1.htm
[3] http://www.uni-oldenburg.de/nausa/KARTE/frameis.htm
[4] http://www.db.de/site/bahn/de/unternehmen/konzern/geschichte/chronik/1994__1999/1994__1999.html (28.08.2003)
[5] http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/verk/verktab1.htm
[6] http://www.transrapid.de/en/index.html
[7] http://www.kiel.de
[8] http://www.luebeck.de/
[9] http://www.rostock.de
[10] http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/geo/geoflust.htm
[11] http://www.destatis.de/basis/e/geo/geokanat.htm
[12] http://www.lufthansa.com/dlh/index_en.html
[13] http://www.munich-airport.de/EN/index.html
[14] http://www.transrapid.de/en/index.html