BERLIN, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- German transport minister Andreas Scheuer is planning to channel government funding to several new major railway infrastructure projects, the German press agency (DPA) reported on Tuesday.
According to DPA, the transport ministry has now reached the first decision to go ahead with projects to expand and electrify railway services in and around Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Cologne, Mannheim and Munich.
DPA cited a document by the transport ministry scheduled for presentation by Scheuer on Tuesday listing the latest projects to receive funding in the official plan for federal traffic routes.
The infrastructure plan by the German government was signed off by federal legislators in 2016 and sets out investments worth more than 270 billion euros (308 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030. Aside from seeking to lower travel times with higher speed connections, measures were also announced to prepare the German railway network more generally for cargo trains with a length of up to 740 meters.
While the fate of individual infrastructure projects is determined on a case by case basis, 40 percent of the 270 billion euros in funding promised by the German government is reserved for railway infrastructure.
