"In acute danger": Internal files show why Senate experts warned about the maglev train

Other cities are building, Berlin prevents. In the end, the city gets: nothing. Because it rejected the tram, politicians pursued plans for a maglev train to Spandau. They insisted on this, even though the specialist department in the Senate administration proved that enormous costs were looming. There were also plans for a cable car network that should extend to Buch. A review of the Senate records reveals a lot. It was enacted by the Pro Tram association. The 17 organizations include the Left, the Greens, the Federation for Environmental and Nature Protection in Germany (BUND), and the Passenger Association IGEB. The accusation is: for ideological reasons, politicians in the Senate and Spandau put on hold a tram project that was far advanced. Instead, they pursued ideas that have little chance of realization. Passengers are the victims: they will have to put up with "overloaded bus corridors" in the future, criticized by Katharina Wolf from the BUND. Furthermore, urban development projects would be endangered. Maglev train for Berlin: Here the first route could be built Senate's secret project: How concrete are the plans for the first maglev train in Berlin Tram to Spandau: How concrete was the project The signals were green. In the districts of Spandau and Reinickendorf, the tram should replace heavily used bus routes. A tram network of about 13 kilometers was planned, connecting the Spandau station, Hakenfelde, the U-Bahn station Paulsternstraße, and the Urban Tech Republic on the former Tegel Airport. Actually, everything was clear. In the urban development plan Mobility and Transport 2030, the extension of the tram from Jungfernheide station to Spandau and to the former airport grounds was included. The tram project was also in the public transport needs plan. A cost-benefit analysis showed that the benefit outweighed the costs. This cleared the way for the Senate to decide. Fan of modern technology: Transport Senator Ute Bonde (CDU) spoke in favor of testing a maglev train in Berlin – also for freight traffic. © Benjamin Pritzkuleit/Berliner Zeitung "Since mid-2023, all the documents were available to the Senate transport administration, with which a Senate proposal for the continuation of tram planning could have been submitted," the BUND says. One of the next steps would be preliminary planning. Nine years after its start, the first trams could be running. Maglev train for Berlin: How a journey really feels Spandau: Tram would take away space from cars However, in the review of the records requested by the Pro Tram association, it became clear: the transport senators Manja Schreiner and Ute Bonde "blocked further steps out of consideration for tramphobia of the Spandau district officials". Building Councilor Thorsten Schatz, who is also a Christian Democrat, did not want a means of transport that makes space on the streets contentious for cars. The Spandauer are also afraid that the tram project endangers the further development of the Siemens railway. Several years after Ute Bonde had still expressed her sympathy for maglev technology as head of the Berlin-Brandenburg transport association (VBB), no possible route had been found yet. The debate therefore reached the politicians in the Senate and district: In Spandau, a stilt track instead of a tram could be built, which would not let cars get in the way. The specialists in the transport administration tried to counteract this. A document from April 24, 2025, recalled that alone in the district of Spandau, over 17,000 apartments are being built on the tram route. "This is all absurd": How a tram activist calculates with transport policy in Berlin "Dringly necessary from a specialist point of view" "From a specialist point of view, the tram is still urgently necessary to ensure adequate connection of the development areas," it is stated. The document shows that for its development, the tram is an "attractive as well as comparatively quickly implementable and cost-effective solution." The planned new routes would be an "essential prerequisite to manage the resulting traffic as much as possible with public transport, as bus traffic is already at the capacity limit in its current state," it states another internal information that was also found during the review of the records. Of the 25 Berlin bus stops where the greatest capacity shortages occur, six were in Spandau, it was later said. The result of the preliminary meeting for the session of the Senate committee dealing with housing construction in the western area of Berlin was no less clear. "The tram is the most suitable means of transport to achieve the traffic planning goals," the summary from October 21, 2025, states. Maglev train in Spandau: What is planned now – and who is slowing it down Planning stop endangers prestige project in Siemensstadt If tram planning were stopped, this would endanger housing construction on the Gartenfeld island and at the Siemensstadt Square, the latter being a prestige project of the Senate. Because it would be "highly doubtful," or at worst excluded, that the rail network could accommodate the additional traffic. "Because of this, the projects should not be approved in planning law. In particular, the Siemensstadt Square would be acutely endangered," the warning stated. It is clear here that it is no longer just about Spandau concerns, but about overall city issues. But there is also a fiscal side. "A maglev train for Spandau can easily become a multi-billion gap," the Pro Tram association reports. The costs would be much higher than with the tram. While 300 million euros were estimated for the approximately 13-kilometer tram network in 2022, the Senate experts calculated in an estimate on February 16, 2026, that for the transport system Bögl (TSB) would be 592.1 million or 888.1 million euros depending on the scenario. Instead of 23.1 million euros, the price per kilometer would be 45.5 to 68.3 million euros, calculated by the specialists. When a maglev train route for Nuremberg was examined, the estimate was 19 million euros per kilometer. "However, the costs per kilometer as TSB are pure manufacturer data that have not yet been technically checked by a neutral expert," the specialists in the Senate transport administration note. A bus from the BVG in front of the Spandau town hall. In 1967, a tram passed here for the last time. Plans were made to lay tracks again – and were stopped. © imago Furthermore, "some facts were not taken into account regarding the costs." Cables would have to be laid, which would increase the costs for the pier foundations. The four bridges that would have to be built required expensive special constructions. The maglev train consumes more electricity than trams. The maintenance costs for the vehicles are also completely unclear. "The significantly higher costs raise doubts about a public economic result in the sense of the state budget law," states the conclusion of the specialist department of the Senate transport administration. Therefore, the construction of a maglev train should not be commissioned due to uneconomicality – unlike a tram route. The experts also disappoint the hope that a maglev train could be built relatively quickly. Because there are no proven procedures, such a project is "not a timely public transport development". Not to forget the urban development argument. Quote from the cost estimate: "The tram was rejected by the Spandau district office so far with reference to an unacceptable interference with the street space. A structural development of the maglev train would likely create exactly such an interference." A good idea or an absurd empty promise? How Berlin discusses the maglev train Change of power in the transport administration in sight However, despite all arguments, the Senate transport administration led by the CDU stuck to its plans. So State Secretary Arne Herz insisted on January 13, 2026, that for the future backbone of development in the western area of Berlin, it is not just about pursuing the plans for the continuation of the Siemens railway – although specialists in his administration warn that this makes the reactivation of the S-Bahn route more complicated and ultimately endangered. The Christian Democrat also reaffirmed that the planning for a maglev train is being examined by the Urban Tech Republic (UTR) for the Gartenfeld island and the Spandau town hall. "As a first development stage, the route design from the UTR to the area east of the Havel river should be planned in depth," Herz confirmed. However, after the Berlin election of September 20, 2026, a change of power is also announced in the Senate transport administration. Ute Bonde's Senatorial position falls to the Left, the Greens, or the SPD. All three parties do not want to build a maglev train in Berlin. The findings that have now emerged from the review of the records by the Pro Tram association are therefore likely to prove to be the last nail in the coffin. New head of VBB: "We could test a maglev train in Berlin" Howoge planned a 40-kilometer cable car network "Torpedoing long-standing tram projects is apparently good manners in certain Berlin circles," says the BUND Berlin. "This is also the case with the state-owned housing company Howoge. In February 2024, it proposed to the Senate transport administration the construction of a network of six cable car lines in the north of Berlin." This also brought to light the review of the tram association. The network designed by Howoge comprises about 40 kilometers of cable cars. For example, from Gartenfeld and Jungfernheide to the Urban Tech Republic, to the Märkisches Viertel and then further via Blankenburg and the southern Blankenburger area to Hohenschönhausen: That would be line 1. Line 2 would go from the Botanical Park Blankenfelde to the Elisabethaue and to Buch. Falkenhagener Feld and Johannisstift would be further stops in the cable car network. Currently the only cable car in Berlin: Gondolas float over the Kienbergpark in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf district. In 2024, Howoge presented a concept for a network of six lines. © Sabine Brose/Sorge However, the specialist department in the transport administration managed to put a stop sign, the review of the records revealed. The proposed network appears "not to be goal-oriented," the statement says. The development of the development areas with the established and powerful transport carriers S-Bahn, U-Bahn, tram, and bus should remain the norm. The specialists find that the cable car can only be supplemented "in a few cases". Their opinion is important to us. Send us your feedback on this article to: briefe@berliner-zeitung.de