traffic | Berlin to Frankfurt (Oder): rail, road, construction site

There is often a lot of traffic on the Autobahn 12 from Berlin to Frankfurt (Oder). Photo: dpa/Patrick Pleul The A12 motorway from Berlin to Frankfurt (Oder) is a central traffic axis for transport to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Trucks, especially with Polish license plates, but also from the three small Baltic states, drive bumper to bumper here, with German trucks in between.

»27 percent heavy traffic – that’s above average for a motorway. You also notice that when you drive there,” said Rayk Langer from the federal Autobahn GmbH on Thursday. He says it in the infrastructure committee of the Brandenburg state parliament, where he informs MPs about the planned expansion. Instead of four lanes, there will in future be six on the 53-kilometer section from the Spreeau triangle to the Frankfurt (Oder)-Mitte exit.

»27 percent heavy traffic – that’s above average for a motorway. You notice that when you drive there.«

The project is included in the federal transport infrastructure plan and was originally budgeted at 218 million euros, explains Langer. The project is not one of the construction measures classified as urgent. But it has an asterisk, which means that planning can already begin.

Construction work has become expensive. That's why the costs are now estimated at 485 million euros, which may not be the end of the line yet. But this should not slow down expansion. “The traffic load is constantly increasing, both overall and for heavy loads,” confirms Langer. According to him, there is still a question mark on the schedule. The expansion could therefore take place in three phases. The first phase could be started in 2035. Everything would be finished in 2042.

The Infrastructure Committee had invited Rayk Langer because the MPs wanted to find out whether the expected traffic disruptions on the motorway would coincide with total closures and replacement rail traffic on the Berlin-Frankfurt (Oder) railway line. Then a traffic chaos of enormous proportions would be programmed. But in this respect there is the all-clear: When the motorway starts, Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) wants to be ready.

DB Group representative Alexander Kaczmarek explains to the committee why total closures of the railway line for months cannot be avoided. There has been insufficient investment in the infrastructure for years. Now Deutsche Bahn is catching up. A completely new control and safety system should be set up on the route to Frankfurt (Oder). This is impossible with rolling trains. It is also planned to renew signal boxes and tracks, extend the platform in Briesen and rebuild the passenger overpass in Hangelsberg. As a result, there will be a total closure for four months in 2029 and 2030. Actually, the old overhead lines should also be replaced at the same time. But the DB postpones this and justifies it with material shortages. Overhead lines are worth their weight in gold at the moment because manufacturers lack capacity. That's why the overhead lines shouldn't be installed until 2033 and 2035.

Many variants have been examined, assures Kaczmarek. The one he presented is the “much more passenger-friendly variant.” Because in 2029 the trains could run largely undisturbed, at least between Berlin and Fürstenwalde, and in 2030 at least as far as the Fangschleuse. If larger sections of the route were closed, as originally planned, the rail replacement buses would have longer routes - with all the associated inconvenience and travel time extensions.

Silvio Künkel from the railway subsidiary DB InfraGo presents three rejected variants for comparison. Option one would have meant a total closure in sections for eleven and a half months. In variant two, the route would only have been closed on one track. A body of trains could have rolled on the second track. But the restrictions lasted for 23.5 months. The East German Railway (Odeg), which operates the RE1 regional express to Frankfurt (Oder), favored a total closure that would ensure faster construction, reports Künkel. In variant three there would have been blockages of five and four months spread over two years. But another bottleneck thwarted the plan: there was a lack of staff who could check signal boxes for functionality before they were put into operation and who had to give their blessing.

Infrastructure Minister Robert Crumbach (SPD) regrets the significant restrictions for passengers, which have been in place since 2024 and will continue to exist in the coming years. However, he expressly welcomes the currently very high level of construction activity so that the conditions for rail travelers will improve in the long term. Crumbach admits that he is aware that total closures sometimes cannot be avoided.

Bundestag member Christian Görke (Left) calls Deutsche Bahn’s plans “a sham” and “a mess.” »Instead of fundamentally solving the construction site chaos, the burden is simply divided and spread over years. The fact that local transport is to be maintained west of Fürstenwalde is good news for Berlin's suburbs, but for the people in Frankfurt (Oder), Eisenhüttenstadt and the entire region, this still means that they will be left behind for months and reduced to second-class commuters.

The »nd.Genossenschaft« belongs to its readers and authors. They are the ones who make our journalism accessible to everyone through their contribution: We are not backed by a media company, not a large advertising customer or even a billionaire.

Thanks to the support of our community we can:

→ report independently and critically → shine a light on topics that otherwise remain in the shadows → give space to voices that are often silenced → counter disinformation with facts → strengthen and deepen left-wing perspectives

With “Voluntarily pay” you contribute to the financing of our newspaper in solidarity. So that nd remains.