Overview

• More than 100 representatives from politics, environmental groups and citizens’ initiatives demanded an immediate halt to the new Hamburg–Hannover line through the Lüneburger Heide at the Heidegipfel in Bispingen.
• Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil publicly backed honoring the 2015 Dialogforum Schiene Nord agreement on upgrading existing tracks to restore trust in planning processes.
• Lower Saxony Transport Minister Grant Hendrik Tonne called for a Raumverträglichkeitsprüfung, criticizing the proposed route’s landscape impacts and its deviation from the Autobahn A7 corridor.
• Deutsche Bahn continues to favor a new-build line to meet capacity requirements under the Deutschlandtakt, arguing the existing route is one of Germany’s most overloaded corridors.
• A Bundestag decision and ongoing budget negotiations later this year will shape the project’s future as parliamentary resistance grows and funding remains uncertain.