German Daily Die Welt Reports Schiller Institute Maglev Proposal

Copenhagen June 21, 2007 -- The German news daily Die Welt today had as the lead article in its international section, a report on the Danish Schiller Institute proposal for a maglev to connect Copenhagen with Hamburg in only 40 minutes. This would be possible if the Fehmarn Belt Bridge presently under discussion [connecting the Danish capital island of Zealand to to Fehmarn in Germany] included a maglev track extending from Copenhagen to Hamburg. The article reported the Schiller Institute proposal as a contrast to the present opposition in Germany to the bridge project, under the headline: "Copenhagen-Hamburg in 40 minutes."

The article begins: "Whereas Germany is hesitant to give a state guarantee of several billion euros to secure the Fehmarn Bridge project, and whereas citizens on Fehmarn are protesting against it, the Danes are one step ahead. The Schiller Institute, a mixture of a general interest lobby for a strong state, and citizen initiatives to support huge infrastructure projects, says that Hamburg and Copenhagen are not even an hour's train ride apart. With a maglev train like the Transrapid and with the bridge, it can be feasible to drive from the one big northern European city to the other in 40 minutes, they say."

The article goes on to report on a study aired yesterday by Siemens and the Danish Engineering company Ramboll for possible use of maglev on the Kattegat-link bridge project currently under debate in Denmark to connect the two biggest Danish cities Copenhagen and Aarhus (also originally a Schiller Institute proposal).

The Die Welt coverage came as a result of interest in the German press in a demonstration the SI held on Monday in front of the German embassy in Copenhagen to get Germany to agree to the Fehmarn Belt Bridge, and by mass distribution of literature through campaign newspapers and the internet.

Read the German article in full

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