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Towards the multimodal transport of people and freight: interconnective networks in the RheinRuhr Metropolis
Journal of Transport Geography 11 (2003) 193–203 www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo
Towards the multimodal transport of people and freight: interconnective networks in the RheinRuhr Metropolis €rg Scho €nharting a, Alexander Schmidt b, Andre Frank Jo a b
a,*
, Stefanie Bremer
b
Institute for Traffic+Traffic Planning, University of Essen, Universit€atsstraße 15, 45141, Essen, Germany Institute for Urban Design+Planning, University of Essen, Universit€atsstraße 15, 45141, Essen, Germany
Abstract RheinRuhr is an area where historic trade routes, national development corridors and European megacorridors all converge in a network of motorways. The settled area between Cologne, Duisburg and Dortmund is not itself a corridor, but a network of corridors. Transport bestows a unifying element in an area well known for nurturing local differences and distinctiveness. As a focal point of megacorridors, regional corridors and historic transit routes, can the RheinRuhr be a model for the region? Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: RheinRuhr; Ruhr district/Ruhrgebiet; Corridors; Megacorridors; Infrastructure planning; Interconnectivity
1. RheinRuhr Metropolis: a node of corridors Having good connections to neighbouring cities and regions of commerce has always been an important criterion for choosing a business location. In the region between Cologne and Unna, this principle was applied since antiquity, underlying and guiding the flows of economic prosperity in the area. Only a few transit routes (or corridors) existed between important Roman cities north of the Alps. However, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the area flourished not just from the development of mineral resources and the influx of entrepreneurs and qualified workers, but also due to the expansion of transport routes. Today, the high-density RheinRuhr area is one of the most populated regions in Europe, and highly dependant on a well-functioning transport network. Corridors that act as links between important business, political and cultural centres can survive for long periods of time, even when the individual relationships between centres may have changed due to shifting political relations, cultural significance or economic frameworks. One important route followed the left bank of the Rhine, originating from the Roman town of Basel, passing through Colonia (which is today Cologne), and
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-201-183-2696. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Frank).
0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0966-6923(03)00030-9
the Roman-founded town of Xanten, past Nijmegen and finally on to Leiden. In the Middle Ages, a few important, far-ranging, dominantly east–west oriented trade routes passed through the area. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the predominant additions were railways. The region exploded with people moving to feed the burgeoning coal and steel industries. The invention of the car at the end of the nineteenth century took mobility to a new level. Now it was possible to have door-to-door connections without changing the means of transportation. Today, a network of motorways overlies the historic corridors in the metropolitan region. This has considerably widened what was once a narrow corridor. Many corridor areas have become fused into a nearly homogeneous zone without any spaces left in between. The picture looks much different when one considers the new high speed train (HST). In this case, the HST route outlines a corridor in which only certain locations with stations would have access. Even in view of its narrow spatial layout, the HST system still takes on significance in terms of a corridor. This importance is also discernible when one considers the Trans European Network: the European motorway network lies on a plane covering the former corridors whereas the HST network traces the historic corridors. Consequently, does it make sense to regard corridors, including the linked metropolitan regions (megacorridors), as planning units? Does it make sense to devise models for the development of these areas? Does the spatial and
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Fig. 1. Boundaries of the RheinRuhr-Randstad and RheinRuhr-Flemish diamond corridors.
socio-economic development of the towns in these areas follow other laws than the other towns (the megacorridor hypothesis)? The CORRIDESIGN study undertaken for RheinRuhr (Frank et al., 2001) constitutes the basis for this contribution. The aim of the following sections is to present in greater detail the spatial and transport planning aspects of the RheinRuhr region as a node of both old and new corridors (Fig. 1).
2. Delineation and characteristics of corridors In Germany, the RAS-N 1 method has been adopted to determine corridor boundaries using transport infrastructure. This model first investigates the connections to selected locations and then the network associated with these connections. The central positioning system is used as a basis for this. The point connections in the real network indicate the functional routes that can be taken into consideration when demarcating the corridor. The Randstad corridor was assembled using municipalities and rural districts either joined or traversed by the A3 or the A57. The Brussels/Antwerp corridor was similarly defined using the A67 and the A44. Determined in this way, only a narrow ÔinterspaceÕ lay between these corridors, which was classified as a non-corridor municipality. There were no intermediate areas at all on the rural district level; every rural district was part of a corridor. 1 Richtlinie f€ ur die Anlage und den Betrieb von Straßen (Guidelines for the Layout and Operation of Streets), Teil Leitfaden f€ ur die funktionale Gliederung des Straßennetzes (RAS-N), Forschungsgesellschaft f€ ur Straßen und Verkehrswesen, K€ oln 1988.
Fig. 2. Schematic image of socio-economic developments within the corridor Randstad-RheinRuhr; Flemish Diamond-RheinRuhr (Sch€ onharting, 2001).
An analysis of socio-economic development (see Fig. 2) that took into account indicators in relation to the number of inhabitants and the level of employment revealed that spatial differences follow national boundaries and are dependent on congested urban area and rural area categories. Both indicators show that national borders still present developmental hurdles. Thus, the rate of unemployment on the German side of the corridor is considerably higher than that in corridor sections lying in Belgium and the Netherlands. Similarly, developments in the number of inhabitants on either side of the border show a clear border effect with rising population figures in neighbouring countries. European integration has not yet manifested itself in a bordercrossing levelling of development. So models, strategies and measures that can help to overcome the obstacles related to the mobility of people and the mobility of jobs are that much more important. Within Germany, a comparison between rural and urban areas also reveals strong developmental differences. With regard to local population trends, rural areas exhibit greater development dynamics, especially in those areas close to highly congested urban areas. Differences between rural districts within and outside the megacorridor could not be determined however. This outcome is partly due to the coarse nature of the analysis. The labour market is also varied within Germany. It has developed favourably in rural areas but deteriorated
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in high-density urban ones. This trend, which diverges from developments in other urban areas in the federal territory, can be traced back to economic restructuring in the region (i.e. the break-up of the coal and large parts of the steel industry). Despite these differences, the fortunes of high-density urban areas and rural areas are closely tied. For one thing, residents moving out of the urban areas generally relocate to rural areas. At the same time, in spite of its structural weaknesses, high-density urban areas remain the primary job-providers for rural areas. Given this interrelationship, it is therefore logical to develop models that take both areas into account.
3. Towards a RheinRuhr Metropolitan region? When asked, people in the region claim that D€ usseldorf does not belong to the ÔPottÕ, or industrialised Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr District). Wuppertal does not belong either. Yet without D€ usseldorf, the Ruhr District would never have become such a significant industrial region (Birkenhauer, 1986). Around 1880, the tract of land between the eastern Rhineland and western Westphalia became the most important coal and steel production area in Europe. Key innovations and inventions that made coal mining and steel production possible were centred in D€ usseldorf or the Bergisches Land region. It is thus unthinkable that the industrial Ruhr District could have come into existence without D€ usseldorf, Wuppertal and Cologne. Parallel to the identity of the individual cities, the working class also had a sense of a separate, regional identity, unrelated to actual economic interconnections. People reduced their mental maps of the industrialised Ruhr basin down to the location of coalmines and blast furnaces. Today, the important binding elements in the region are no longer coal and steel (Schrumpf et al., 2001). The region is being transformed from an industry-based to a service-based area. The founding of new universities in the 1970s prompted this structural change. At present, colleges and universities and New Technology commercial parks are providing a solid basis for economic and cultural renewal. The new Ruhr District has great potential, but still no real sense of identity. It is still not clear which cities and districts belong to the new Ruhr. The colleges and universities stretch from the Ruhr, through the Bergische Land up to Cologne, thereby achieving new functional interconnections (Blotevogel, 1998; Kunzmann, 1993). With a more globally oriented spatial pattern, the ÔchildrenÕ of the service industry generation have also carved out a new region for themselves––the RheinRuhrCity (NRW Forum, 2002) or the RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region (see below).
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4. Obstacles to the RheinRuhr Metropolitan region The RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region offers new possibilities, but also faces some serious challenges. The RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region does not exist––not yet. At the present time, RheinRuhr exists only as a hope to incorporate the regions stretching from Cologne, Wuppertal and Unna into a single European economic unit. The whole of RheinRuhr is intended to be more than the sum of its parts. So the new region has not yet established itself. Nor are there any identitybestowing spatial markers. The level of infrastructure worthy of a metropolitan region is also absent. It is somewhat paradoxical: the region between Cologne and Dortmund has the most dense transport network in Germany, yet it is not very accessible. The morning commute on the B1, the most important east–west access route in the region is symbolic for the whole region. After driving for some time, everything comes to a standstill and one finds oneself stuck in a traffic jam–– and always in the same place. Similarly, RheinRuhr has the tools to become a metropolitan region. But at this time, RheinRuhr is still stuck in traffic. 4.1. Mobility within the RheinRuhr Metropolitan region In Germany, mobility is quantified using the principles of RAS-N (RAS-N, 1988) or RIN (RIN, in press). 2 To this end, connections to central locations are analysed with the purpose of comparing target parameters related to connection quality. The target parameters for connection quality include the velocity over the shortest distance or Ôas the crow fliesÕ: vair [km/h], which is attained between an initial and a target location within a certain timeframe. It is dependent on the shortest distance (Dair [km/h]) and the travel time (tR [h]). The formula reads as follows: vair ½km=h ¼ dair ½km= tR ½km=h. 3 The velocity can be evaluated by standard velocity curves for quality of service, from A (very good quality) to D (poor, but tolerable). Service quality levels E and F are not acceptable for planning purposes (see Fig. 3). A particular problem arises when comparing the connection quality of autonomous modes of transport with regularly scheduled modes of transport. The RIN has developed a procedure which can, for a given time interval, determine to the minute each best door-todoor connection using regularly scheduled modes of transport. In areas well connected by the public 2
RAS: see previous footnote; RIN: Rahmenrichtline f€ ur die integrierte Netzgestaltung (Framework guidelines for the development of integrated networks). Forschungsgesellschaft f€ ur Straßen-und Verkehrswesen, K€ oln, in press. 3 v stands for velocity, d for distance and t for time.
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liniear velocity (km/h)
80 70 60 50
motor car with congestion public transport motor car without congestion
40 30 20 10 0 100
120
140 160 180 linear distance (km)
200
Fig. 3. Velocity as a function of distance (selected data; for explanation see text; Sch€ onharting and Bruckmann, 2002).
transportation system, the actual locations for embarking and disembarking and the route for a given connection can vary by the minute (Sch€ onharting and Bruckmann, 2002). In this way, the average of all the best travel times using public transport can be seen as comparable to travel times for road traffic; it provides a common denominator for the determination of the average velocity over distances Ôas the crow fliesÕ. This procedure is applicable to all regional and local public transport systems. For long-distance traffic, performing up-to-theminute analysis (and computing the resulting waiting time) is avoided. Instead, the average of all available best connections in the relevant time interval is used, on the condition that this value is not significantly worse than the absolute best connection. An analysis of the quality of connections between the main centres of the megacorridor has shown that the location of the centre plays a key role. Locations in the western RheinRuhr tend to have high-quality connections. Eastern locations are disadvantaged due to other transportation relationships within the region. The reasons for this situation are the considerable bottlenecks in the road networks within the RheinRuhr region. With more than 1,000 traffic-jam hours clocked every year (see Fig. 4), a number of motorway sections are among the most frequently congested routes in Germany (Korte et al., 2002). Outside of the highly populated areas, the quality of service is more acceptable. Overloaded capacity of regional public transport systems is indicative of the accessibility of the network. Closely spaced trains between important city centres cause the network to be overburdened, resulting in frequent delays, and missed transfers. 4 A direct comparison of modes of transport shows that, in spite of the traffic jams, public transport still usually requires twice
4 In the analysis presented here, delay frequency and follow-up delay frequency were not taken into account.
as much time as the private car. This is one reason why public transport carries only a relatively small proportion of the overall motorised transport in the region, namely 15% (Stadt Essen, 1999). This demonstrates that the public transport network and the connecting nodal points urgently require attention. When one views the problem of capacity bottlenecks within a larger spatial context, the extent to which this limits economic growth becomes even clearer. Metropolitan regions constitute a barrier for movements of passengers and goods that pass through them. 4.2. Metropolis without urbanity As stated, the RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region is not a city (Niethammer et al., 1984; Reif, 1993). In contrast to other large industrial regions (Berlin, for example) the Ruhr District never underwent a process of planned urbanisation (Reulecke, 1990). Without any planned design in mind, a collection of villages in this area expanded to ultimately form one of EuropeÕs largest industrial zones (Vonde, 1989). Of course, there were many attempts to steer the process along a planned course in order to, for example, spatially harmonise land requirements for coal production, the necessary infrastructure and new residential areas. These attempts proved unsuccessful however. The large-scale Prussian enterprises in the Ruhr coal district built coalmines wherever a shaft could be sunk––without consideration to larger spatial structures. ‘‘The logic is crude and egocentric: it orients itself for a short breath of time solely towards its own purposes’’ (G€ unter, 2000, p. 44). Aspects of a coherent regional city structure did not play a role. Even the communities, which gained sovereignty over the drawing up of building plans in 1855, could not and did not want to direct the process in a coordinated manner. They acted according to their individual interests, partly because no regional umbrella agency was available. Intervention could only take place concerning individual property. At the city level, and even the regional level, planning remained ‘‘aimless, ruthless and helmless’’ (ibid.). The consequences of this uncontrolled growth are evident even today. Next to coalmines one finds uninhabited residential areas, old village centres split by railway lines and well-connected potential building sites remaining as fields and pasture. Varying usage types clash heavily in the Ruhr area. What emerges is a mix typical of the Ruhr District (ibid., p. 41), an area embracing differences and niches. The jumble of improved highways and country roads and passenger and freight railway lines do not ensure structured accessibility. The roadway network, once oriented to an agricultural region of towns and medieval villages, was stretched to accommodate the demands of a large industrial region, becoming overextended in its capacity. Even accessibil-
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Fig. 4. Traffic jams in the motorway network in the greater metropolitan area (Frank et al., 2001).
ity provided by the train proceeded in an uncoordinated manner (Spethmann, 1995). Regional organisational bodies and accessibility structures were notable by their absence. Only with the construction of motorways at a supraregional level will a super-municipal mobility system be achieved. The widening of the historic ÔTrail of LightÕ to 6 or 9 m will make it the most important transEuropean transport corridor; this could be made into a collective project for the municipalities. Currently, the rough network outlined by the four east–west motorways and the five north–south motorways or stretches of motorway encompass the most important accessibility network of the region––a system, as has been observed, which is reaching its limit in terms of capacity. Owing to its uncontrolled growth, the region lacks large-scale linear structures that function regional identity markers (Schmidt, 1990). Large-scale linear structures are physically present however. These include the Emscher, the Ruhr and the Rhine, the motorways and the central train lines. However, attempts by urban designers to have people experience these linear structures as central to identity through the use of town planning, architecture and transport planning are still in their infancy (Koch et al., 2002; Bremer and Sander, 2002). Many scholars in the region have criticised the fact that regional, or even metropolitan, thinking for the RheinRuhr concept has been frustrated by the wide-
spread delegation of administrative responsibilities to small agencies (Kilper et al., 1994). The functional space of RheinRuhr is not complemented by a single political institutionalised body. A strong authority has been missing since the 1980s, when the former Siedlungsverband Ruhrkohlenbezirk (today called the Kommunalverband Ruhr) lost its regional planning authority. Despite a few attempts to rectify the situation (see Blotevogel, 1995; Krings and Kunzmann, 1996), there is no sufficiently strong institution at present operating at the regional level.
5. Plans for the Metropolitan region and the megacoridor 5.1. New urban and political structures for the RheinRuhr Metropolis In comparison to the polycentric Randstad region, the Ruhr District (a section of the entire RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region), still displays a somewhat uncoordinated picture of regional cooperation (Knapp et al., 2000). The government of the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has increased cooperation between regional and local decision makers, and is therefore an advocate of an improved awareness of the regionÕs functional space. A project entitled RheinRuhrCity, undertaken within the framework of an initiative by the Ministry of Urban Design, Housing,
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Culture and Sport, with the support of the Dutch architectural firm MVRDV and urban design professors in the region, aimed to create visions for the new region (see NRW Forum, 2002). 5 The scenarios created identify the potential for regional coordination. This was a key aim of an associated research project undertaken by eight cities of the Region, entitled St€ adteregion Ruhr 2030 (Bremer and Petzinger, 2001). An exhibition in the NRW Forum for Culture and Economics displayed, in a playful and provocative manner, films and simulations demonstrating the spatial repercussions of RheinRuhrCity. The region was shown alternatively as a landscape of college and university campuses, a dense net of transit routes or a neo-agrarian idyll. An international design workshop during the Fall Academy Stadtraum B1. Visionen f€ ur eine Metropole (ÔUrban Space B1: Visions for a MetropolisÕ) supported by the Ministry, demonstrated how the spatial area comprising the motorway A 40 (B1) could be reinterpreted as a regional space. This international Academy, hosted by the University of Wuppertal and the University of Aachen, departed from the notion that this motorway was the central public space of the new region. The designs transformed it into the ÔChampsElysees of the Ruhr DistrictÕ (Koch et al., 2002). Defining the A40 (B1) as a central regional axis was also a main theme in an interdisciplinary research project undertaken by the University of Essen and funded by the Projekt Ruhr AG. Suggestions were made for widening congested motorway sections by building an elevated roadway, and the integration of the planned works into the surrounding communities was evaluated through simulations. 6 At the regional level, REGIONALEN form an important incentive for cooperation and integrating the different parts of RheinRuhr. The REGIONALE is an ÔinventionÕ of the NRW government and aims to enhance the profile of regions within the state. 7 Regions bid for the organisation of a biannual event, and the entire programme will run until 2008. The present REGIONALE is called EUROGA 2002plus in which parts of the Dutch province of Limburg also participate. This programme of crossborder cooperation consists of about 120 projects. 8 Also worth mentioning is the Fluss Stadt Land initiative undertaken by 17 municipalities and 2 districts that started as a bid for the REGIONALE 2004/2006. The cooperating local councils work on a regional concept to guide the changes taking place in the northern and eastern parts of the Ruhr region.
5
http://www.rheinruhrcity.de (accessed: 31.1.2003). Projekt Ruhr GmbH. 2000. projector 01/2000. Online Version: www.projekt-ruhr.de (accessed: 24.4.2001). 7 www.mswks.nrw.de/download/regionale.pdf. 8 www.euroga.de (accessed: 31.1.2003). 6
Participating cities work together on project ideas geared towards using the existing waterways to strengthen the ties within the area. 9 In addition to these proposals, the oldest intermunicipal body in the Ruhr region, the Emschergenossenschaft (Emscher Association), is promoting cooperation between the cities and districts along the Emscher via an initiative called the Emscherdialog. At this time, the Emschergenossenschaft has planned developments along 60 km of the main riverbanks. The orderly and harmonious transformation of the river, heavily manipulated to serve the industrialisation of the region in the past, is set out in the Masterplan Emscher. In December 2002, an international public competition was announced to collect urban and rural landscape concepts with the aim of re-naturalising the area. The Projekt Ruhr AG, founded in 2001 by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, seeks to translate common plans into action. Municipalities will receive financial support for concrete political efforts. In collaboration with various cities, the organization, which is still in its infancy, has already initiated a range of intermunicipal pilot projects. The Ruhrpilot, for example, is a regional transport information system that compiles traffic loading profiles for individual and public transport as well as freight movement. The aim of the system is to redirect traffic when congestion arises (see the next chapter). The digitales Ruhrgebiet serves as an intermunicipal platform for developing legally binding relationships between citizens, administrative authorities and businesses in the Ruhr District. At the same time, the government of NRW is attempting to restructure the region. The goal of these efforts is to limit the general tendency in the region towards the development of greenfield sites and to promote sustainable development. To this end, the NRW government has initiated a range of projects to promote less transport-intensive forms of settlement. Ab in die Mitte! City-Offensive NRW is a scheme put forward by the Ministry of Town Planning, the convention of municipal authorities of NRW and a large German department stores. Its exemplary actions serve to increase the attractiveness of the inner city. The Forum Bahnfl€achen aims to achieve active city development by transforming derelict railway sites (usually located in the inner cities) into new urban areas; approximately several thousand hectares is available for this (MSWKS, 2002). A related project is an evaluation of train stations and their surroundings. The successful, new cooperation concepts Aktionsprogramm 100 Bahnh€ ofe and the Modernisierungsoffensive, are being carried out in conjunction with Deutschen Bahn AG and the Bahnfl€achenEntwicklungsGesellschaft.
9
www.fluss-stadt-land.de (accessed: 31.1.2003).
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5.2. New infrastructure for the RheinRuhr Metropolis and the megacorridors At this time, no institution like a European body exists to oversee cross-border projects. Cross-border concepts, strategies and measures require a voluntary agreement on principles. One aim stated in the standard catalogue of goals for transport infrastructure planning in NRW is to secure economic ties across borders. These business exchanges need to be oriented towards improving transport infrastructure and mobility through improved networks, facilitating different modes of transport for all citizens, and promoting spatial structures which reduce the need for transport and improving the environment. 10 What is astonishing is that the goal of achieving an economical transport infrastructure (in terms of investment and operating costs) has not been evident at either the federal or the state level, even though it is apparent that financing presents an everincreasing challenge––especially for operating costs. 11 The goals discussed here are not quantitative in nature; however, they do indicate the kinds of effects certain measures would have if implemented. Which package of measures would achieve the best effect is still an open issue. Aside from the decisions made by the state, the success or failure of a plan to reach its aims is also determined by the decisions made by businesses and private individuals. So, in this case, knowledge is limited to those measures that have already been tested in the past. It is against this backdrop that the measures planned for the RheinRuhr Metropolitan region will be discussed below. One of the measures is the development of the HST system to complement the network of airports. The HST line along the corridor to Brussels is currently under construction. It is primarily the municipalities of the linked metropolitan areas that will profit from the project once the line comes into service. Within the corridor itself, however, only Aachen and Liege will benefit. How the RheinRuhr-Randstad connection is to take shape is still an open issue. The Dutch would prefer increasing capacity through shorter schedule intervals and new guidance technology. In contrast, Germany favours the construction of a true high-speed track, not least because of the advantages in travel time. Agreement on a common strategy has not yet been reached. A direct connection of the Cologne/Bonn airport to the HST system is currently in preparation. The terminals of
10
Integrierte Gesamtverkehrsplanung (IGVP-Law). The funds available at the present time are insufficient for the maintenance of railway lines and roads. And subsidies amounting to more than 450 million euros per year are required for the public transportation system in the VRR alone, a subsection of the metropolitan region (Verbundbericht des Verkehrsverbundes Rhein/ Ruhr (VRR), Bochum 1999). 11
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D€ usseldorf International Airport will be accessible by the D€ usseldorf Airport/Train Station HST and the HBahn. Laying out the HST system to correspond with flight traffic considerably improves the accessibility of airports from the centres of metropolitan regions. Furthermore, the integration of airports in the HST network can also assist cooperation projects with the airports of Amsterdam (Schiphol), Brussels (Zaventem) and Frankfurt. A finalized version of a federal transport action plan already exists in Germany. The general NRW transport plan is currently being drafted. Although no decisions have yet been made regarding construction projects, one can assume that only a few measures can be completed in the next 10 years. These projects will be restricted to filling gaps in the motorway network and implementing measures to reduce congestion. It is foreseeable that the frequency of traffic jams will hardly be reduced in the near future and that improvement will depend on strategies to use the existing supply of infrastructure and transport alternatives more efficiently. With this in mind, planned measures to improve the public transportation system and improve the network using better information suddenly assume greater importance. Apart from the development of the integral schedule system through the introduction of a second level, the Metrorapid System in the main regional corridor Dortmund-Duisburg-D€ usseldorf represents a particularly ambitious plan. With an investment of 3.2 billion euros and a deadline for completion in 2006, the system promises to deliver a considerably improved system of public transportation. The desired result is a change in the choice of transportation modes in the favour of public transport. Studies have shown that 76% of Metrorapid passengers will already be customers of the existing public transportation system, 21% will switch from using their vehicles, and that 3% will be new passengers (Planungsgemeinschaft Metrorapid, 2000). Metrorapid will use magnetic levitation technology that will reduce the travel time between Dortmund and D€ usseldorf to 37 min, about 17 min faster than the Regional Express train, and 11 min faster than the ICE train. During peak hours, the train will depart in 10-min intervals, and this should reduce travel times in the corridor significantly (see Fig. 5). The project represents a great opportunity in the field of metropolitan transport, not only because of the sweeping improvements to local transit service it entails, but also due to the spin-offs it will have for research and technology. Another point that should not be underestimated is an improved image of the entire region; if the Metrorapid proves itself be to an innovative transport system, it will become a symbol of the structural changes undergone in this former industrial region. The Ruhrpilot is a traffic information system that compiles traffic loading data on individual, public and
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6. Networking transport services for multimodal routes and transport chains
60.0
linear velocity (km/h)
50.0 40.0
public transport without Metrorapid
30.0
motor car with congestion
20.0
public transport with Metrorapid
Limited financial resources and an already dense network of transport routes are two factors that makes it reasonable to try to use the existing capacity to the furthest possible advantage. One possible means to this end is to improve connections for customers. Plans put forward by the NRW government are clearly inadequate in this regard. Improved connections between transport services could, at the level of the individual passenger, reduce the inconvenience associated with transfers, improve accessibility to the public transport system and ease congestion on the road network. For the transport of freight, it could take the form of better transhipment flexibility, smoother timing at harbours and railway container terminals, improving accessibility to the rail network or using the rails for the temporary storage of goods. Networking could consist of two important factors. These include planning for passenger transfers/ goods transhipment, and flexible access to and from the stops at the public transportation service/goods transfer terminals. So considered, each nodal point exhibits a specific requirement profile (see Tables 1 and 2). Of considerable significance to the networking of transport services is the number and location of nodal points. Stated otherwise, this regards the choice between having a few central nodal points versus many small regional nodal points. When dealing with passenger services it is important to consider that centrally-located transfer points require high performance facilities in
10.0 0.0 0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
linear distance (km)
Fig. 5. Selected data showing connection quality in the region with and without Metrorapid (Sch€ onharting, 2001)
freight transport. It aims to redirect vehicles when congestion occurs. The Ruhrpilot system only covers the major transport network pertaining to the metropolitan area or region. Municipal networks have not yet been integrated in the information system. It will be of great benefit to users if the information system can really provide alternative routings when traffic disturbances occur. Its use will largely depend on the speed at which the system can identify alternatives. Starting in 2003, a lorry toll based on road performance will be levied on motorways throughout the Federal Republic, thereby also affecting the RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region. The purpose of the toll is to improve the financial situation of the federal government, and only a fraction of the funds collected is earmarked for the rehabilitation of the transport infrastructure in the region. The toll will be limited to lorries under 12 tonnes, and the effect on rail transport is expected to be small. Of larger importance are planned measures to revamp, construct and expand the freight rail network. Pertaining to the railway track between Oberhausen and the Dutch border, plans call for an extension of the railway junction at Oberhausen, the construction of a third track from Oberhausen in the direction of Wesel (set between the two existing tracks) as well as the conversion to a block system to increase rail capacity.
Table 1 Requirements at nodal points for passenger services From to
Vehicle/ taxi
Vehicle/taxi Public transit HST Airport
– –
Public transit , , , ,
, , ,
HST , , , ,
,
Airport
, ,
, , ,
, –
short timing intervals, sufficient parking places, integral timing schedule, integrated tariffs for the entire transport chain, conshort transfer distances (when possible, no level necting junction, changes).
Table 2 Requirements at nodal points for the movement of freight From to
Vehicle
Vehicle Rail Inland barge shipping Airport
– , , ,
, , ,
Rail , , , ,
Inland barge shipping , , , ,
, , , , , , , , ,
, , ,
, –
, , ,
Airport , ,
,
,
– –
Short timing intervals, integral timing schedule, integrated tariffs for the entire transport chain, connecting junction, flexibility in supply of services, short transit times, goods tracing system. distances (when possible, no level changes),
short transfer
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201
Fig. 6. Decentralisation concept for railway freight transport (source: Universit€at Essen, 2002b).
order to accommodate the high volume of arrivals and departures and require a large customer processing centre. However, these factors are not the only disadvantages. Large P+R facilities generally result in long walking distances or additional transport services (bus or People Mover, for example). Parking spaces are available at only a few locations in highly populated areas. Accessibility to parking close to train stations is thus vulnerable to the factors mentioned above. Everything about a highly populated area suggests that development should happen in decentralised way––one which uses existing transfer nodes (train stations, transhipment terminals) as well as other nodal points located on the outer limits of these areas. The new regional facilities could profit from the speed of Metrorapid and the regional rail transport, and from intersecting nodal points of rails and motorways. The same principle applies to the convergence of freight services: it is reasonable to use a decentralised concept that situates nodal points at centrally-located major facilities and supplementing these with facilities further away (see Fig. 6). For inland canal transport, harbours present the ideal nodal point for links to roads and rail. Aside from better transfer possibilities, improved networking also requires new arrangements for flexible arrivals and departures. Which stop offers the best connection to the destination? Is parking available? How could taxi trips be most efficiently organised? How could one organise a flexible route from the final transit stop to the destination? One viable starting point is the integration of multiguest taxi services and the public transport system. The resulting optimisation problems, which specifically consist of how to best combine passengers and their desired destination into a multi-guest taxi system while
still allowing individual passengers to disembark at the best transit route stop, are considered surmountable. Even though the taxi association shows great interest in the idea, putting the system into practice is another thing (Universit€at Essen, 2002a). As with railways, the transport of goods also needs rethinking. Classic freight transport involving the shunting and arranging of freight wagons is no longer competitive. The lorry presents a new role model: at present, its efficiency with respect to economy, quality and flexibility cannot be matched by the railways. One possible alternative is the train coupling sharing principle (Universit€at Essen, 2002b), in which self-guided container wagons move automatically between railway stations, coupling to move in convoy fashion on heavilyused sections of track before uncoupling. Such a system would eliminate the resource-intensive shunting step. Transforming the vision of this system to reality is still a long way away however.
7. Conclusion: RheinRuhr, the invisible metropolis RheinRuhrCity is readily discernible on a satellite photograph. But one cannot see it when driving through it by car. When inside, the region dissolves into an obscure, sometimes narrow-minded, jumble of local interests, and its dream to reinvent itself on a European level vanishes behind its church towers. The RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region needs new organisational and networking systems in order to position itself as a future centre for technology and science, and to be able to market these strengths. Planners face the task of transforming old, depleted, industrial-style residential areas
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without having to resort to making extreme spatial changes. Regional thinking in the RheinRuhr requires the presence of public agencies that extend beyond the borders of individual cities. Linear structures reaching over the entire area offer possibilities for regional planning. Whether the Ruhr, the Rhine, the Emscher, distant trade routes traced during the Middle Ages, current motorways or new high speed railway lines: the large linear corridors of today are nearly identical to those of the past. The design and organisation of these is a task for both traffic planners and city and regional planners. The problem here is not purely one of traffic planning, it concerns the whole idea of a city space. This task could help to promote a regional consciousness that problems need to be addressed with consideration to urban design. The concept of the megacorridor is relevant at the transnational and European level, and this calls for some form of governance at these levels. Going down to the level of RheinRuhr, one has to conclude that integrating the urban areas into some sort of regional megacorridor remains out of the question. And while transnational cooperation is still lacking, the old Ruhr District will continue to be held together by the old corridors––a linear regional city running along the main transport routes whose future viability continues to be put to the test. The development of governance at the European and transnational level could nevertheless support the Ruhr District. For the RheinRuhr, the picture is gloomier: cooperation at this level simply does not work. Still this is only half the story. Even though the Ruhr District does show difficulties in terms of regional governance, owing to a lack of institutions at this level, the Ruhr region is nevertheless described as a ‘‘laboratory of inter-municipal cooperation’’ (Kilper, 1995). Apart from any kind of formal institution, themeoriented cooperation is possible. The Ruhr District is an experimental testing field for regional cooperation in city networks. Perhaps gaining experience in cooperative projects with loosened administrative reins could become an impetus for promoting cooperation between cities, municipalities and states in the megacorridor. The future of the RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region depends on positive developments in the numbers of inhabitants (decreasing in many places) and job creation. These factors are, in turn, dependent on issues related to transport and community development. However, there are studies that predict drastic decreases in population and jobs. If this vision of the future does in fact translate itself into reality, transport problems may be solved of their own accord. Against this backdrop one must ask if the development concepts for transport infrastructure proposed by the Federal Republic and the NRW government are truly sufficient. An evaluation of the planned measures cannot be given at
this point. The planned measures are, in part, very ambitious (Metrorapid). However, they also need to be supplemented with the suggestions made regarding the development of connecting nodes for the users of transport services. In this way, the concepts presented offer the opportunity for European cooperation and–– like the Randstad and Brussels regions––forming a network of regions and intact corridors and transit routes throughout these regions.
References Birkenhauer, J., 1986. Das Rhein-Ruhr-Gebiet: Sterbender Kern einer Metropole. Spektrum der Wissenschaft 7, 38–53. Blotevogel, H.H., 1995. Auf der Suche nach regionalen Leitbildern? Regionale Entwicklungskonzepte f€ ur das Ruhrgebiet. In: Barsch, D., Karrasch, H. (Eds.), Umbau alter Industrieregionen (Tagungsbericht und wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen zum 49. Deutscher Geographentag Bochum, Band 1), Steiner, Stuttgart, 34–51. Blotevogel, H.H., 1998. Europ€aische Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr: theoretische, empirische und politische Perspektiven eines neuen raumordnungspolitischen Konzepts. ILS-Schriften 135. Institut f€ ur Landes- und Stadtentwicklungsforschung des Landes NordrheinWestfalen (ILS), Dortmund. Bremer, S., Petzinger, T., 2001. St€adteregion Ruhr 2030. Leitbildentwicklung im regionalen Dialog. In: Mettler-Von Meibom, B., Steeger, U. (Eds.), Elitenkooperation in der Region. Neue Wege an der Ruhr. Klartext, Essen, 113–119. Bremer, S., Sander, H., 2002. Die Autobahn als Aufgabe eines regionalen St€adtebaus. In: Koch, M., Sander, H., Wachten, K. (Eds.), Stadtraum B1. Visionen f€ ur eine Metropole. Schmidt, L€ unen, 52–57. Frank, A., Schmidt, A., Sch€ onharting, J., Hiethaar, S., Ipenburg, D., Trip, J.J., 2001. Case Study Report on the Megacorridor Randstad-RhineRuhr Area produced within the framework of Action 5 of CORRIDESIGN, OTB Research Institute, Delft University of Technology, Delft. G€ unter, R., 2000. Im Tal der K€ onige. Ein Reisebuch zu Emscher, Rhein und Ruhr. Klartext, Essen. Kilper, H., 1995. Von regionaler Selbstregulierung zu interregionaler Konkurrenz. Wandel kommunaler Zusammenarbeit. In: Kommunalverband Ruhrgebiet (Ed.), Kommunalverband Ruhrgebiet. Wege, Spuren. Festschrift zum 75-j€ahrigen Bestehen des Kommunalverbandes Ruhrgebiet. KVR, Essen, 69–104. Kilper, H., Latniak, E., Rehfeld, D., Simonis, G., 1994. Das Ruhrgebiet im Umbruch. Strategien regionaler Verflechtung. Schriften des Instituts Arbeit und Technik Band 8. Leske+Budrich, Opladen. Knapp, W., Kunzmann, K.R., Schmitt, P., 2000. Die Region RheinRuhr. Einsichten in und Aussichten f€ ur eine ‘‘Metropolregion’’ der Zukunft. Workshop des Instituts f€ ur Landes- und Stadtentwicklungsforschung (ILS) und der Staatskanzlei am 30.November2000 [Workshop organised in the context of the INTERREG IIC project EURBANET]. Institut f€ ur Landes- und Stadtentwicklungsforschung des Landes NRW/Universit€at Dortmund, Dortmund. Koch, M., Sander, H., Wachten, K. (Eds.), 2002 Stadtraum B1. Visionen f€ ur eine Metropole. Schmidt, L€ unen. Korte, H., Sch€ onharting, J., Tetzner, S., 2002. Schlussbericht zur Machbarkeitstudie: M€ oglichkeiten zur Verbesserung des Verkehrsflusses und der st€adtebaulichen Einbindung der A 40 zwischen Essen und Dortmund. o.V, Essen.
J. Sch€onharting et al. / Journal of Transport Geography 11 (2003) 193–203 Krings, J., Kunzmann, K.R., 1996. Eine kommunale Agentur RheinRuhr (ARR). RaumPlanung 72, 51–53. Kunzmann, K.R., 1993. Ein Leitbild f€ ur die Region Rhein-Ruhr. Arbeitspapier 131 des Instituts f€ ur Raumplanung der Universit€at Dortmund. IRPUD, Dortmund. MSWKS, Ministerium f€ ur St€adtebau und Wohnen, Kultur und Sport des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (Ed.), 2002. Bahnfl€achen zur Stadt machen. Arbeitshilfe zur Aktivierung von Bahnfl€achen. Eigenverlag, Bonn. Niethammer, L., Hombach, B., Fichter, T., Borsdorf, U. (Eds.), 1984. Die Menschen machen ihre Geschichte nicht aus freien St€ ucken, aber sie machen sie selbst. Einladung zu einer Geschichte des Volkes in NRW. Dietz, Bonn. NRW Forum (Ed.), 2002. The Regionmaker-RheinRuhrCity. Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit. Planungsgemeinschaft Metrorapid, 2000. Feasibility study of magnetic high speed trains in Bavaria and NRW. Teilprojekt Metrorapid D€ usseldorf––Dortmund. Final Report, section: NRW, Erl€auterungsbericht. o.V. RAS-N, Richtlinie f€ ur die Anlage und den Betrieb von Straßen (Guidelines for the layout and operation of streets). Teil Leitfaden f€ ur die Funktionale Gliederung des Straßennetz (RAS-N), Forschungsgesellschaft f€ ur Straßen und Verkehrswesen, K€ oln, 1988. Reif, H., 1993. Die versp€atete Stadt. Industrialisierung, st€adtischer Raum und Politik in Oberhausen, 1846–1929. Habelt, K€ oln Pulheim. Reulecke, P., 1990. Vom Kohlenpott zu Deutschlands, Starkem St€ uck’’. Bouvier, Bonn. RIN, Rahmenrichtline f€ ur die integrierte Netzgestaltung (Framework guidelines for the development of integrated networks). For-
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schungsgesellschaft f€ ur Straßen- und Verkehrswesen, K€ oln, in press. Schmidt, J.A., 1990. St€adtebau und Evolutiver Struktur- und Gestal€ berlegungen zur Modellierung von Ver€anderungstungswandel. U prozessen in der gebauten Umwelt. Peter Lang, Frankfurt a.M./ Bern/New York/Paris. Sch€ onharting, J., 2001. Presentation titled: TENs strengthen regional competition, but who is the winner? Findings of the CORRIDESIGN project in the scope of the session urban planning, Thessalonica. Sch€ onharting, J., Bruckmann, D., 2002. Schweben und Vernetzen Zuund Abgang beim Metrorapid-System. Der Eisenbahningenieur, Heft 2, 16–17. Schrumpf, H., Budde, R., Urfei, G., 2001. Gibt es noch ein Ruhrgebiet? Schriften und Materialien zur Regionalforschung Heft 6 des Rheinisch-Westf€alischen Instituts f€ ur Wirtschaftsforschung Essen (RWI). RWI, Essen. Spethmann, H., 1995. Das Ruhrgebiet im Wechselspiel von Land und Leuthe, Wirtschaft, Technik und Verkehr. 2 B€ande. Originalausgabe 1933. Klartext, Essen. Stadt Essen, 1999. Nahverkehrsplan 1999 Stadt Essen. Essen, Stadt Essen. Universit€at Essen, 2002a. Final report of research on the evening leisure time activities of young adults in high population density € PNV Nutzung auf Discoareas. M€ oglichkeiten zur Erh€ ohung der O Wegen. o.V., Essen. Universit€at Essen, 2002b. Machbarkeitsstudie individualisierter Schieneg€ uterverkehr (IVSGV) im Auftrag des BMBF. Schlussbericht. o.V., Berlin. Vonde, D., 1989. Revier der großen D€ orfer. Industrialisierung und Stadtentwicklung im Ruhrgebiet. Klartext, Essen.
Towards the multimodal transport of people and freight: interconnective networks in the RheinRuhr Metropolis €rg Scho €nharting a, Alexander Schmidt b, Andre Frank Jo a b
a,*
, Stefanie Bremer
b
Institute for Traffic+Traffic Planning, University of Essen, Universit€atsstraße 15, 45141, Essen, Germany Institute for Urban Design+Planning, University of Essen, Universit€atsstraße 15, 45141, Essen, Germany
Abstract RheinRuhr is an area where historic trade routes, national development corridors and European megacorridors all converge in a network of motorways. The settled area between Cologne, Duisburg and Dortmund is not itself a corridor, but a network of corridors. Transport bestows a unifying element in an area well known for nurturing local differences and distinctiveness. As a focal point of megacorridors, regional corridors and historic transit routes, can the RheinRuhr be a model for the region? Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: RheinRuhr; Ruhr district/Ruhrgebiet; Corridors; Megacorridors; Infrastructure planning; Interconnectivity
1. RheinRuhr Metropolis: a node of corridors Having good connections to neighbouring cities and regions of commerce has always been an important criterion for choosing a business location. In the region between Cologne and Unna, this principle was applied since antiquity, underlying and guiding the flows of economic prosperity in the area. Only a few transit routes (or corridors) existed between important Roman cities north of the Alps. However, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the area flourished not just from the development of mineral resources and the influx of entrepreneurs and qualified workers, but also due to the expansion of transport routes. Today, the high-density RheinRuhr area is one of the most populated regions in Europe, and highly dependant on a well-functioning transport network. Corridors that act as links between important business, political and cultural centres can survive for long periods of time, even when the individual relationships between centres may have changed due to shifting political relations, cultural significance or economic frameworks. One important route followed the left bank of the Rhine, originating from the Roman town of Basel, passing through Colonia (which is today Cologne), and
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-201-183-2696. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Frank).
0966-6923/$ - see front matter Ó 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0966-6923(03)00030-9
the Roman-founded town of Xanten, past Nijmegen and finally on to Leiden. In the Middle Ages, a few important, far-ranging, dominantly east–west oriented trade routes passed through the area. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the predominant additions were railways. The region exploded with people moving to feed the burgeoning coal and steel industries. The invention of the car at the end of the nineteenth century took mobility to a new level. Now it was possible to have door-to-door connections without changing the means of transportation. Today, a network of motorways overlies the historic corridors in the metropolitan region. This has considerably widened what was once a narrow corridor. Many corridor areas have become fused into a nearly homogeneous zone without any spaces left in between. The picture looks much different when one considers the new high speed train (HST). In this case, the HST route outlines a corridor in which only certain locations with stations would have access. Even in view of its narrow spatial layout, the HST system still takes on significance in terms of a corridor. This importance is also discernible when one considers the Trans European Network: the European motorway network lies on a plane covering the former corridors whereas the HST network traces the historic corridors. Consequently, does it make sense to regard corridors, including the linked metropolitan regions (megacorridors), as planning units? Does it make sense to devise models for the development of these areas? Does the spatial and
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Fig. 1. Boundaries of the RheinRuhr-Randstad and RheinRuhr-Flemish diamond corridors.
socio-economic development of the towns in these areas follow other laws than the other towns (the megacorridor hypothesis)? The CORRIDESIGN study undertaken for RheinRuhr (Frank et al., 2001) constitutes the basis for this contribution. The aim of the following sections is to present in greater detail the spatial and transport planning aspects of the RheinRuhr region as a node of both old and new corridors (Fig. 1).
2. Delineation and characteristics of corridors In Germany, the RAS-N 1 method has been adopted to determine corridor boundaries using transport infrastructure. This model first investigates the connections to selected locations and then the network associated with these connections. The central positioning system is used as a basis for this. The point connections in the real network indicate the functional routes that can be taken into consideration when demarcating the corridor. The Randstad corridor was assembled using municipalities and rural districts either joined or traversed by the A3 or the A57. The Brussels/Antwerp corridor was similarly defined using the A67 and the A44. Determined in this way, only a narrow ÔinterspaceÕ lay between these corridors, which was classified as a non-corridor municipality. There were no intermediate areas at all on the rural district level; every rural district was part of a corridor. 1 Richtlinie f€ ur die Anlage und den Betrieb von Straßen (Guidelines for the Layout and Operation of Streets), Teil Leitfaden f€ ur die funktionale Gliederung des Straßennetzes (RAS-N), Forschungsgesellschaft f€ ur Straßen und Verkehrswesen, K€ oln 1988.
Fig. 2. Schematic image of socio-economic developments within the corridor Randstad-RheinRuhr; Flemish Diamond-RheinRuhr (Sch€ onharting, 2001).
An analysis of socio-economic development (see Fig. 2) that took into account indicators in relation to the number of inhabitants and the level of employment revealed that spatial differences follow national boundaries and are dependent on congested urban area and rural area categories. Both indicators show that national borders still present developmental hurdles. Thus, the rate of unemployment on the German side of the corridor is considerably higher than that in corridor sections lying in Belgium and the Netherlands. Similarly, developments in the number of inhabitants on either side of the border show a clear border effect with rising population figures in neighbouring countries. European integration has not yet manifested itself in a bordercrossing levelling of development. So models, strategies and measures that can help to overcome the obstacles related to the mobility of people and the mobility of jobs are that much more important. Within Germany, a comparison between rural and urban areas also reveals strong developmental differences. With regard to local population trends, rural areas exhibit greater development dynamics, especially in those areas close to highly congested urban areas. Differences between rural districts within and outside the megacorridor could not be determined however. This outcome is partly due to the coarse nature of the analysis. The labour market is also varied within Germany. It has developed favourably in rural areas but deteriorated
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in high-density urban ones. This trend, which diverges from developments in other urban areas in the federal territory, can be traced back to economic restructuring in the region (i.e. the break-up of the coal and large parts of the steel industry). Despite these differences, the fortunes of high-density urban areas and rural areas are closely tied. For one thing, residents moving out of the urban areas generally relocate to rural areas. At the same time, in spite of its structural weaknesses, high-density urban areas remain the primary job-providers for rural areas. Given this interrelationship, it is therefore logical to develop models that take both areas into account.
3. Towards a RheinRuhr Metropolitan region? When asked, people in the region claim that D€ usseldorf does not belong to the ÔPottÕ, or industrialised Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr District). Wuppertal does not belong either. Yet without D€ usseldorf, the Ruhr District would never have become such a significant industrial region (Birkenhauer, 1986). Around 1880, the tract of land between the eastern Rhineland and western Westphalia became the most important coal and steel production area in Europe. Key innovations and inventions that made coal mining and steel production possible were centred in D€ usseldorf or the Bergisches Land region. It is thus unthinkable that the industrial Ruhr District could have come into existence without D€ usseldorf, Wuppertal and Cologne. Parallel to the identity of the individual cities, the working class also had a sense of a separate, regional identity, unrelated to actual economic interconnections. People reduced their mental maps of the industrialised Ruhr basin down to the location of coalmines and blast furnaces. Today, the important binding elements in the region are no longer coal and steel (Schrumpf et al., 2001). The region is being transformed from an industry-based to a service-based area. The founding of new universities in the 1970s prompted this structural change. At present, colleges and universities and New Technology commercial parks are providing a solid basis for economic and cultural renewal. The new Ruhr District has great potential, but still no real sense of identity. It is still not clear which cities and districts belong to the new Ruhr. The colleges and universities stretch from the Ruhr, through the Bergische Land up to Cologne, thereby achieving new functional interconnections (Blotevogel, 1998; Kunzmann, 1993). With a more globally oriented spatial pattern, the ÔchildrenÕ of the service industry generation have also carved out a new region for themselves––the RheinRuhrCity (NRW Forum, 2002) or the RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region (see below).
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4. Obstacles to the RheinRuhr Metropolitan region The RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region offers new possibilities, but also faces some serious challenges. The RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region does not exist––not yet. At the present time, RheinRuhr exists only as a hope to incorporate the regions stretching from Cologne, Wuppertal and Unna into a single European economic unit. The whole of RheinRuhr is intended to be more than the sum of its parts. So the new region has not yet established itself. Nor are there any identitybestowing spatial markers. The level of infrastructure worthy of a metropolitan region is also absent. It is somewhat paradoxical: the region between Cologne and Dortmund has the most dense transport network in Germany, yet it is not very accessible. The morning commute on the B1, the most important east–west access route in the region is symbolic for the whole region. After driving for some time, everything comes to a standstill and one finds oneself stuck in a traffic jam–– and always in the same place. Similarly, RheinRuhr has the tools to become a metropolitan region. But at this time, RheinRuhr is still stuck in traffic. 4.1. Mobility within the RheinRuhr Metropolitan region In Germany, mobility is quantified using the principles of RAS-N (RAS-N, 1988) or RIN (RIN, in press). 2 To this end, connections to central locations are analysed with the purpose of comparing target parameters related to connection quality. The target parameters for connection quality include the velocity over the shortest distance or Ôas the crow fliesÕ: vair [km/h], which is attained between an initial and a target location within a certain timeframe. It is dependent on the shortest distance (Dair [km/h]) and the travel time (tR [h]). The formula reads as follows: vair ½km=h ¼ dair ½km= tR ½km=h. 3 The velocity can be evaluated by standard velocity curves for quality of service, from A (very good quality) to D (poor, but tolerable). Service quality levels E and F are not acceptable for planning purposes (see Fig. 3). A particular problem arises when comparing the connection quality of autonomous modes of transport with regularly scheduled modes of transport. The RIN has developed a procedure which can, for a given time interval, determine to the minute each best door-todoor connection using regularly scheduled modes of transport. In areas well connected by the public 2
RAS: see previous footnote; RIN: Rahmenrichtline f€ ur die integrierte Netzgestaltung (Framework guidelines for the development of integrated networks). Forschungsgesellschaft f€ ur Straßen-und Verkehrswesen, K€ oln, in press. 3 v stands for velocity, d for distance and t for time.
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liniear velocity (km/h)
80 70 60 50
motor car with congestion public transport motor car without congestion
40 30 20 10 0 100
120
140 160 180 linear distance (km)
200
Fig. 3. Velocity as a function of distance (selected data; for explanation see text; Sch€ onharting and Bruckmann, 2002).
transportation system, the actual locations for embarking and disembarking and the route for a given connection can vary by the minute (Sch€ onharting and Bruckmann, 2002). In this way, the average of all the best travel times using public transport can be seen as comparable to travel times for road traffic; it provides a common denominator for the determination of the average velocity over distances Ôas the crow fliesÕ. This procedure is applicable to all regional and local public transport systems. For long-distance traffic, performing up-to-theminute analysis (and computing the resulting waiting time) is avoided. Instead, the average of all available best connections in the relevant time interval is used, on the condition that this value is not significantly worse than the absolute best connection. An analysis of the quality of connections between the main centres of the megacorridor has shown that the location of the centre plays a key role. Locations in the western RheinRuhr tend to have high-quality connections. Eastern locations are disadvantaged due to other transportation relationships within the region. The reasons for this situation are the considerable bottlenecks in the road networks within the RheinRuhr region. With more than 1,000 traffic-jam hours clocked every year (see Fig. 4), a number of motorway sections are among the most frequently congested routes in Germany (Korte et al., 2002). Outside of the highly populated areas, the quality of service is more acceptable. Overloaded capacity of regional public transport systems is indicative of the accessibility of the network. Closely spaced trains between important city centres cause the network to be overburdened, resulting in frequent delays, and missed transfers. 4 A direct comparison of modes of transport shows that, in spite of the traffic jams, public transport still usually requires twice
4 In the analysis presented here, delay frequency and follow-up delay frequency were not taken into account.
as much time as the private car. This is one reason why public transport carries only a relatively small proportion of the overall motorised transport in the region, namely 15% (Stadt Essen, 1999). This demonstrates that the public transport network and the connecting nodal points urgently require attention. When one views the problem of capacity bottlenecks within a larger spatial context, the extent to which this limits economic growth becomes even clearer. Metropolitan regions constitute a barrier for movements of passengers and goods that pass through them. 4.2. Metropolis without urbanity As stated, the RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region is not a city (Niethammer et al., 1984; Reif, 1993). In contrast to other large industrial regions (Berlin, for example) the Ruhr District never underwent a process of planned urbanisation (Reulecke, 1990). Without any planned design in mind, a collection of villages in this area expanded to ultimately form one of EuropeÕs largest industrial zones (Vonde, 1989). Of course, there were many attempts to steer the process along a planned course in order to, for example, spatially harmonise land requirements for coal production, the necessary infrastructure and new residential areas. These attempts proved unsuccessful however. The large-scale Prussian enterprises in the Ruhr coal district built coalmines wherever a shaft could be sunk––without consideration to larger spatial structures. ‘‘The logic is crude and egocentric: it orients itself for a short breath of time solely towards its own purposes’’ (G€ unter, 2000, p. 44). Aspects of a coherent regional city structure did not play a role. Even the communities, which gained sovereignty over the drawing up of building plans in 1855, could not and did not want to direct the process in a coordinated manner. They acted according to their individual interests, partly because no regional umbrella agency was available. Intervention could only take place concerning individual property. At the city level, and even the regional level, planning remained ‘‘aimless, ruthless and helmless’’ (ibid.). The consequences of this uncontrolled growth are evident even today. Next to coalmines one finds uninhabited residential areas, old village centres split by railway lines and well-connected potential building sites remaining as fields and pasture. Varying usage types clash heavily in the Ruhr area. What emerges is a mix typical of the Ruhr District (ibid., p. 41), an area embracing differences and niches. The jumble of improved highways and country roads and passenger and freight railway lines do not ensure structured accessibility. The roadway network, once oriented to an agricultural region of towns and medieval villages, was stretched to accommodate the demands of a large industrial region, becoming overextended in its capacity. Even accessibil-
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Fig. 4. Traffic jams in the motorway network in the greater metropolitan area (Frank et al., 2001).
ity provided by the train proceeded in an uncoordinated manner (Spethmann, 1995). Regional organisational bodies and accessibility structures were notable by their absence. Only with the construction of motorways at a supraregional level will a super-municipal mobility system be achieved. The widening of the historic ÔTrail of LightÕ to 6 or 9 m will make it the most important transEuropean transport corridor; this could be made into a collective project for the municipalities. Currently, the rough network outlined by the four east–west motorways and the five north–south motorways or stretches of motorway encompass the most important accessibility network of the region––a system, as has been observed, which is reaching its limit in terms of capacity. Owing to its uncontrolled growth, the region lacks large-scale linear structures that function regional identity markers (Schmidt, 1990). Large-scale linear structures are physically present however. These include the Emscher, the Ruhr and the Rhine, the motorways and the central train lines. However, attempts by urban designers to have people experience these linear structures as central to identity through the use of town planning, architecture and transport planning are still in their infancy (Koch et al., 2002; Bremer and Sander, 2002). Many scholars in the region have criticised the fact that regional, or even metropolitan, thinking for the RheinRuhr concept has been frustrated by the wide-
spread delegation of administrative responsibilities to small agencies (Kilper et al., 1994). The functional space of RheinRuhr is not complemented by a single political institutionalised body. A strong authority has been missing since the 1980s, when the former Siedlungsverband Ruhrkohlenbezirk (today called the Kommunalverband Ruhr) lost its regional planning authority. Despite a few attempts to rectify the situation (see Blotevogel, 1995; Krings and Kunzmann, 1996), there is no sufficiently strong institution at present operating at the regional level.
5. Plans for the Metropolitan region and the megacoridor 5.1. New urban and political structures for the RheinRuhr Metropolis In comparison to the polycentric Randstad region, the Ruhr District (a section of the entire RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region), still displays a somewhat uncoordinated picture of regional cooperation (Knapp et al., 2000). The government of the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) has increased cooperation between regional and local decision makers, and is therefore an advocate of an improved awareness of the regionÕs functional space. A project entitled RheinRuhrCity, undertaken within the framework of an initiative by the Ministry of Urban Design, Housing,
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Culture and Sport, with the support of the Dutch architectural firm MVRDV and urban design professors in the region, aimed to create visions for the new region (see NRW Forum, 2002). 5 The scenarios created identify the potential for regional coordination. This was a key aim of an associated research project undertaken by eight cities of the Region, entitled St€ adteregion Ruhr 2030 (Bremer and Petzinger, 2001). An exhibition in the NRW Forum for Culture and Economics displayed, in a playful and provocative manner, films and simulations demonstrating the spatial repercussions of RheinRuhrCity. The region was shown alternatively as a landscape of college and university campuses, a dense net of transit routes or a neo-agrarian idyll. An international design workshop during the Fall Academy Stadtraum B1. Visionen f€ ur eine Metropole (ÔUrban Space B1: Visions for a MetropolisÕ) supported by the Ministry, demonstrated how the spatial area comprising the motorway A 40 (B1) could be reinterpreted as a regional space. This international Academy, hosted by the University of Wuppertal and the University of Aachen, departed from the notion that this motorway was the central public space of the new region. The designs transformed it into the ÔChampsElysees of the Ruhr DistrictÕ (Koch et al., 2002). Defining the A40 (B1) as a central regional axis was also a main theme in an interdisciplinary research project undertaken by the University of Essen and funded by the Projekt Ruhr AG. Suggestions were made for widening congested motorway sections by building an elevated roadway, and the integration of the planned works into the surrounding communities was evaluated through simulations. 6 At the regional level, REGIONALEN form an important incentive for cooperation and integrating the different parts of RheinRuhr. The REGIONALE is an ÔinventionÕ of the NRW government and aims to enhance the profile of regions within the state. 7 Regions bid for the organisation of a biannual event, and the entire programme will run until 2008. The present REGIONALE is called EUROGA 2002plus in which parts of the Dutch province of Limburg also participate. This programme of crossborder cooperation consists of about 120 projects. 8 Also worth mentioning is the Fluss Stadt Land initiative undertaken by 17 municipalities and 2 districts that started as a bid for the REGIONALE 2004/2006. The cooperating local councils work on a regional concept to guide the changes taking place in the northern and eastern parts of the Ruhr region.
5
http://www.rheinruhrcity.de (accessed: 31.1.2003). Projekt Ruhr GmbH. 2000. projector 01/2000. Online Version: www.projekt-ruhr.de (accessed: 24.4.2001). 7 www.mswks.nrw.de/download/regionale.pdf. 8 www.euroga.de (accessed: 31.1.2003). 6
Participating cities work together on project ideas geared towards using the existing waterways to strengthen the ties within the area. 9 In addition to these proposals, the oldest intermunicipal body in the Ruhr region, the Emschergenossenschaft (Emscher Association), is promoting cooperation between the cities and districts along the Emscher via an initiative called the Emscherdialog. At this time, the Emschergenossenschaft has planned developments along 60 km of the main riverbanks. The orderly and harmonious transformation of the river, heavily manipulated to serve the industrialisation of the region in the past, is set out in the Masterplan Emscher. In December 2002, an international public competition was announced to collect urban and rural landscape concepts with the aim of re-naturalising the area. The Projekt Ruhr AG, founded in 2001 by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, seeks to translate common plans into action. Municipalities will receive financial support for concrete political efforts. In collaboration with various cities, the organization, which is still in its infancy, has already initiated a range of intermunicipal pilot projects. The Ruhrpilot, for example, is a regional transport information system that compiles traffic loading profiles for individual and public transport as well as freight movement. The aim of the system is to redirect traffic when congestion arises (see the next chapter). The digitales Ruhrgebiet serves as an intermunicipal platform for developing legally binding relationships between citizens, administrative authorities and businesses in the Ruhr District. At the same time, the government of NRW is attempting to restructure the region. The goal of these efforts is to limit the general tendency in the region towards the development of greenfield sites and to promote sustainable development. To this end, the NRW government has initiated a range of projects to promote less transport-intensive forms of settlement. Ab in die Mitte! City-Offensive NRW is a scheme put forward by the Ministry of Town Planning, the convention of municipal authorities of NRW and a large German department stores. Its exemplary actions serve to increase the attractiveness of the inner city. The Forum Bahnfl€achen aims to achieve active city development by transforming derelict railway sites (usually located in the inner cities) into new urban areas; approximately several thousand hectares is available for this (MSWKS, 2002). A related project is an evaluation of train stations and their surroundings. The successful, new cooperation concepts Aktionsprogramm 100 Bahnh€ ofe and the Modernisierungsoffensive, are being carried out in conjunction with Deutschen Bahn AG and the Bahnfl€achenEntwicklungsGesellschaft.
9
www.fluss-stadt-land.de (accessed: 31.1.2003).
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5.2. New infrastructure for the RheinRuhr Metropolis and the megacorridors At this time, no institution like a European body exists to oversee cross-border projects. Cross-border concepts, strategies and measures require a voluntary agreement on principles. One aim stated in the standard catalogue of goals for transport infrastructure planning in NRW is to secure economic ties across borders. These business exchanges need to be oriented towards improving transport infrastructure and mobility through improved networks, facilitating different modes of transport for all citizens, and promoting spatial structures which reduce the need for transport and improving the environment. 10 What is astonishing is that the goal of achieving an economical transport infrastructure (in terms of investment and operating costs) has not been evident at either the federal or the state level, even though it is apparent that financing presents an everincreasing challenge––especially for operating costs. 11 The goals discussed here are not quantitative in nature; however, they do indicate the kinds of effects certain measures would have if implemented. Which package of measures would achieve the best effect is still an open issue. Aside from the decisions made by the state, the success or failure of a plan to reach its aims is also determined by the decisions made by businesses and private individuals. So, in this case, knowledge is limited to those measures that have already been tested in the past. It is against this backdrop that the measures planned for the RheinRuhr Metropolitan region will be discussed below. One of the measures is the development of the HST system to complement the network of airports. The HST line along the corridor to Brussels is currently under construction. It is primarily the municipalities of the linked metropolitan areas that will profit from the project once the line comes into service. Within the corridor itself, however, only Aachen and Liege will benefit. How the RheinRuhr-Randstad connection is to take shape is still an open issue. The Dutch would prefer increasing capacity through shorter schedule intervals and new guidance technology. In contrast, Germany favours the construction of a true high-speed track, not least because of the advantages in travel time. Agreement on a common strategy has not yet been reached. A direct connection of the Cologne/Bonn airport to the HST system is currently in preparation. The terminals of
10
Integrierte Gesamtverkehrsplanung (IGVP-Law). The funds available at the present time are insufficient for the maintenance of railway lines and roads. And subsidies amounting to more than 450 million euros per year are required for the public transportation system in the VRR alone, a subsection of the metropolitan region (Verbundbericht des Verkehrsverbundes Rhein/ Ruhr (VRR), Bochum 1999). 11
199
D€ usseldorf International Airport will be accessible by the D€ usseldorf Airport/Train Station HST and the HBahn. Laying out the HST system to correspond with flight traffic considerably improves the accessibility of airports from the centres of metropolitan regions. Furthermore, the integration of airports in the HST network can also assist cooperation projects with the airports of Amsterdam (Schiphol), Brussels (Zaventem) and Frankfurt. A finalized version of a federal transport action plan already exists in Germany. The general NRW transport plan is currently being drafted. Although no decisions have yet been made regarding construction projects, one can assume that only a few measures can be completed in the next 10 years. These projects will be restricted to filling gaps in the motorway network and implementing measures to reduce congestion. It is foreseeable that the frequency of traffic jams will hardly be reduced in the near future and that improvement will depend on strategies to use the existing supply of infrastructure and transport alternatives more efficiently. With this in mind, planned measures to improve the public transportation system and improve the network using better information suddenly assume greater importance. Apart from the development of the integral schedule system through the introduction of a second level, the Metrorapid System in the main regional corridor Dortmund-Duisburg-D€ usseldorf represents a particularly ambitious plan. With an investment of 3.2 billion euros and a deadline for completion in 2006, the system promises to deliver a considerably improved system of public transportation. The desired result is a change in the choice of transportation modes in the favour of public transport. Studies have shown that 76% of Metrorapid passengers will already be customers of the existing public transportation system, 21% will switch from using their vehicles, and that 3% will be new passengers (Planungsgemeinschaft Metrorapid, 2000). Metrorapid will use magnetic levitation technology that will reduce the travel time between Dortmund and D€ usseldorf to 37 min, about 17 min faster than the Regional Express train, and 11 min faster than the ICE train. During peak hours, the train will depart in 10-min intervals, and this should reduce travel times in the corridor significantly (see Fig. 5). The project represents a great opportunity in the field of metropolitan transport, not only because of the sweeping improvements to local transit service it entails, but also due to the spin-offs it will have for research and technology. Another point that should not be underestimated is an improved image of the entire region; if the Metrorapid proves itself be to an innovative transport system, it will become a symbol of the structural changes undergone in this former industrial region. The Ruhrpilot is a traffic information system that compiles traffic loading data on individual, public and
200
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6. Networking transport services for multimodal routes and transport chains
60.0
linear velocity (km/h)
50.0 40.0
public transport without Metrorapid
30.0
motor car with congestion
20.0
public transport with Metrorapid
Limited financial resources and an already dense network of transport routes are two factors that makes it reasonable to try to use the existing capacity to the furthest possible advantage. One possible means to this end is to improve connections for customers. Plans put forward by the NRW government are clearly inadequate in this regard. Improved connections between transport services could, at the level of the individual passenger, reduce the inconvenience associated with transfers, improve accessibility to the public transport system and ease congestion on the road network. For the transport of freight, it could take the form of better transhipment flexibility, smoother timing at harbours and railway container terminals, improving accessibility to the rail network or using the rails for the temporary storage of goods. Networking could consist of two important factors. These include planning for passenger transfers/ goods transhipment, and flexible access to and from the stops at the public transportation service/goods transfer terminals. So considered, each nodal point exhibits a specific requirement profile (see Tables 1 and 2). Of considerable significance to the networking of transport services is the number and location of nodal points. Stated otherwise, this regards the choice between having a few central nodal points versus many small regional nodal points. When dealing with passenger services it is important to consider that centrally-located transfer points require high performance facilities in
10.0 0.0 0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
linear distance (km)
Fig. 5. Selected data showing connection quality in the region with and without Metrorapid (Sch€ onharting, 2001)
freight transport. It aims to redirect vehicles when congestion occurs. The Ruhrpilot system only covers the major transport network pertaining to the metropolitan area or region. Municipal networks have not yet been integrated in the information system. It will be of great benefit to users if the information system can really provide alternative routings when traffic disturbances occur. Its use will largely depend on the speed at which the system can identify alternatives. Starting in 2003, a lorry toll based on road performance will be levied on motorways throughout the Federal Republic, thereby also affecting the RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region. The purpose of the toll is to improve the financial situation of the federal government, and only a fraction of the funds collected is earmarked for the rehabilitation of the transport infrastructure in the region. The toll will be limited to lorries under 12 tonnes, and the effect on rail transport is expected to be small. Of larger importance are planned measures to revamp, construct and expand the freight rail network. Pertaining to the railway track between Oberhausen and the Dutch border, plans call for an extension of the railway junction at Oberhausen, the construction of a third track from Oberhausen in the direction of Wesel (set between the two existing tracks) as well as the conversion to a block system to increase rail capacity.
Table 1 Requirements at nodal points for passenger services From to
Vehicle/ taxi
Vehicle/taxi Public transit HST Airport
– –
Public transit , , , ,
, , ,
HST , , , ,
,
Airport
, ,
, , ,
, –
short timing intervals, sufficient parking places, integral timing schedule, integrated tariffs for the entire transport chain, conshort transfer distances (when possible, no level necting junction, changes).
Table 2 Requirements at nodal points for the movement of freight From to
Vehicle
Vehicle Rail Inland barge shipping Airport
– , , ,
, , ,
Rail , , , ,
Inland barge shipping , , , ,
, , , , , , , , ,
, , ,
, –
, , ,
Airport , ,
,
,
– –
Short timing intervals, integral timing schedule, integrated tariffs for the entire transport chain, connecting junction, flexibility in supply of services, short transit times, goods tracing system. distances (when possible, no level changes),
short transfer
J. Sch€onharting et al. / Journal of Transport Geography 11 (2003) 193–203
201
Fig. 6. Decentralisation concept for railway freight transport (source: Universit€at Essen, 2002b).
order to accommodate the high volume of arrivals and departures and require a large customer processing centre. However, these factors are not the only disadvantages. Large P+R facilities generally result in long walking distances or additional transport services (bus or People Mover, for example). Parking spaces are available at only a few locations in highly populated areas. Accessibility to parking close to train stations is thus vulnerable to the factors mentioned above. Everything about a highly populated area suggests that development should happen in decentralised way––one which uses existing transfer nodes (train stations, transhipment terminals) as well as other nodal points located on the outer limits of these areas. The new regional facilities could profit from the speed of Metrorapid and the regional rail transport, and from intersecting nodal points of rails and motorways. The same principle applies to the convergence of freight services: it is reasonable to use a decentralised concept that situates nodal points at centrally-located major facilities and supplementing these with facilities further away (see Fig. 6). For inland canal transport, harbours present the ideal nodal point for links to roads and rail. Aside from better transfer possibilities, improved networking also requires new arrangements for flexible arrivals and departures. Which stop offers the best connection to the destination? Is parking available? How could taxi trips be most efficiently organised? How could one organise a flexible route from the final transit stop to the destination? One viable starting point is the integration of multiguest taxi services and the public transport system. The resulting optimisation problems, which specifically consist of how to best combine passengers and their desired destination into a multi-guest taxi system while
still allowing individual passengers to disembark at the best transit route stop, are considered surmountable. Even though the taxi association shows great interest in the idea, putting the system into practice is another thing (Universit€at Essen, 2002a). As with railways, the transport of goods also needs rethinking. Classic freight transport involving the shunting and arranging of freight wagons is no longer competitive. The lorry presents a new role model: at present, its efficiency with respect to economy, quality and flexibility cannot be matched by the railways. One possible alternative is the train coupling sharing principle (Universit€at Essen, 2002b), in which self-guided container wagons move automatically between railway stations, coupling to move in convoy fashion on heavilyused sections of track before uncoupling. Such a system would eliminate the resource-intensive shunting step. Transforming the vision of this system to reality is still a long way away however.
7. Conclusion: RheinRuhr, the invisible metropolis RheinRuhrCity is readily discernible on a satellite photograph. But one cannot see it when driving through it by car. When inside, the region dissolves into an obscure, sometimes narrow-minded, jumble of local interests, and its dream to reinvent itself on a European level vanishes behind its church towers. The RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region needs new organisational and networking systems in order to position itself as a future centre for technology and science, and to be able to market these strengths. Planners face the task of transforming old, depleted, industrial-style residential areas
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without having to resort to making extreme spatial changes. Regional thinking in the RheinRuhr requires the presence of public agencies that extend beyond the borders of individual cities. Linear structures reaching over the entire area offer possibilities for regional planning. Whether the Ruhr, the Rhine, the Emscher, distant trade routes traced during the Middle Ages, current motorways or new high speed railway lines: the large linear corridors of today are nearly identical to those of the past. The design and organisation of these is a task for both traffic planners and city and regional planners. The problem here is not purely one of traffic planning, it concerns the whole idea of a city space. This task could help to promote a regional consciousness that problems need to be addressed with consideration to urban design. The concept of the megacorridor is relevant at the transnational and European level, and this calls for some form of governance at these levels. Going down to the level of RheinRuhr, one has to conclude that integrating the urban areas into some sort of regional megacorridor remains out of the question. And while transnational cooperation is still lacking, the old Ruhr District will continue to be held together by the old corridors––a linear regional city running along the main transport routes whose future viability continues to be put to the test. The development of governance at the European and transnational level could nevertheless support the Ruhr District. For the RheinRuhr, the picture is gloomier: cooperation at this level simply does not work. Still this is only half the story. Even though the Ruhr District does show difficulties in terms of regional governance, owing to a lack of institutions at this level, the Ruhr region is nevertheless described as a ‘‘laboratory of inter-municipal cooperation’’ (Kilper, 1995). Apart from any kind of formal institution, themeoriented cooperation is possible. The Ruhr District is an experimental testing field for regional cooperation in city networks. Perhaps gaining experience in cooperative projects with loosened administrative reins could become an impetus for promoting cooperation between cities, municipalities and states in the megacorridor. The future of the RheinRuhr Metropolitan Region depends on positive developments in the numbers of inhabitants (decreasing in many places) and job creation. These factors are, in turn, dependent on issues related to transport and community development. However, there are studies that predict drastic decreases in population and jobs. If this vision of the future does in fact translate itself into reality, transport problems may be solved of their own accord. Against this backdrop one must ask if the development concepts for transport infrastructure proposed by the Federal Republic and the NRW government are truly sufficient. An evaluation of the planned measures cannot be given at
this point. The planned measures are, in part, very ambitious (Metrorapid). However, they also need to be supplemented with the suggestions made regarding the development of connecting nodes for the users of transport services. In this way, the concepts presented offer the opportunity for European cooperation and–– like the Randstad and Brussels regions––forming a network of regions and intact corridors and transit routes throughout these regions.
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