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Inquiry Uncovers Suppressed Protocol as NRW Premier Testifies on Rahmede-Talbrücke

Reviewing 3.7 million pages, the committee still lacks thousands of critical transport ministry records.

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Overview

  • Hendrik Wüst denied he received any concrete warnings about the bridge’s critical condition during his time as NRW transport minister.
  • A September 2021 draft protocol from the federal Autobahn GmbH shows engineers flagged “enormous deficits” in the bridge’s static calculations dating back to 2010–2014 before the document was diluted and shelved.
  • The inquiry is missing thousands of pages from the NRW transport ministry covering the 2017 government transition and an unknown number of files from the Federal Transport Ministry.
  • Former transport minister Ina Brandes, who led the ministry during the bridge’s December 2021 closure, and current minister Oliver Krischer are also scheduled to testify on oversight failures.
  • Reconstruction work, which began in October 2023, remains on track for a spring 2026 reopening and Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder has expressed hope for an earlier completion.