In the fight against the housing shortage, the Union wants to make it easier to use old railway land. She criticizes the current legal situation as being too strict.
The Union in the Bundestag wants to make it easier for municipalities to use railway land that is no longer needed for residential and construction projects. “In the current housing construction crisis, it is very important that we use all available space potential. Here I am expressly including space that is not necessary for Deutsche Bahn,” said the deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group, Ulrich Lange, to the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND).
Since a change in the law at the end of 2023, railway operating areas are of “outstanding public interest”. Only if other projects outweigh this interest may the areas be used differently. In doing so, the federal government wants to prevent railway land that might still be needed later from being sold and developed without further ado.
The city council criticized the legal situation as being too strict
“Our draft law is therefore aimed at not making the reallocation of such railway areas unnecessarily difficult,” Lange told the RND. In many cases, use for other projects such as apartments or necessary infrastructure has already been agreed between those responsible. “It must not be the case that large areas of potential land are lost or lie fallow just because of incorrect regulations.”
The German Association of Cities had also criticized the legal situation for the development of unused railway land as being too strict. He complained in the summer that the hurdles were too high.
The traffic light parties are currently working on a modern rail law. A cabinet decision is expected this year, according to a response to a small question from the CDU/CSU parliamentary group at the end of September.
Source: Stern
