Feasibility study on connecting Braunlage to the Harz narrow-gauge railway network has been commissioned

This morning, Harzer Schmalspurbahnen GmbH (HSB) officially awarded the contract for the feasibility study on connecting Braunlage to its railway network.  The contract has been awarded to DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH based in Berlin, who will spend the next few months analysing in detail both the technical feasibility and the economic viability of the project.
 
The study is being jointly funded by Nahverkehrsservice Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH (NASA), the Regionalverband Großraum Braunschweig, the town of Braunlage, the Harz district and HSB.  In this way, the partners involved at state and regional level want to send a joint signal that they see great opportunities for the future in the project, which aims to establish a direct and attractively timed rail link with modern vehicles between the tourist centres of Braunlage and Wernigerode against the background of changing mobility.
 
The connection of the town in Lower Saxony, which has been a shareholder in HSB since it was founded in 1991, received a political boost with the unanimous decision of the Braunlage town council in July 2022. The council's clear vote was also welcomed by HSB's shareholders, who are also in favour of a rail link.
 
The subsequent studies will be based in part on the results of the 2010 feasibility study, which already identified routes for the new line to be built from Elend. What is new, however, is the planned location of the new Braunlage station at the centrally located car park of the Wurmberg cable car.  The results of the feasibility study are expected in the course of next year.