CDU on transport

The CDU wants to keep Lower Saxony's sea and inland ports competitive and develop them into energy ports. This includes terminals for liquefied natural gas and facilities for landing hydrogen and ammonia. The platform justifies this with the ports' role in supply chains, energy supply and defense capability.

The CDU wants to strengthen the ports in Lower Saxony. More energy should arrive there, such as liquid gas and hydrogen. Rivers should also be made deeper for ships. The CDU says the ports matter for trade and security.

Investment in the seaports is to continue at a high level. LNG terminals are planned in Wilhelmshaven and Stade, along with landing facilities for hydrogen, ammonia and LOHC. The Lower Weser is to be deepened as far as Brake, and the deepening of the Outer Ems is to be sped up. The platform also calls for digitalizing and automating port operations, closer cooperation among northern German ports, and support for a maritime cluster including research and training. Inland ports, waterways and locks are to be maintained, modernized and expanded.

The CDU wants to shorten planning and approval procedures for transport and infrastructure projects, including through a dedicated state law for specific projects. Planning capacity would be expanded, and public participation would take place earlier but in a consolidated form.

The CDU wants to plan and build roads, bridges and rail lines faster. A new state law should help with this. The state should hire more planners and pay them better. Citizens should have their say early, but in one bundled process.

Planning staff would be retained through special pay supplements, and the state would resume training planning and civil engineers and expand university capacity. Formal hearing sessions would be replaced by moderated procedures that accompany planning. A simplified planning procedure is proposed for bridges in need of repair. The CDU aims to have transport concepts and infrastructure programs planned and carried out by a single authority.

The CDU wants to push ahead with expanding federal highways and to provide more state money for expanding and repairing state roads. It cites growing car and truck traffic and the importance of accessibility for quality of life.

The CDU wants to spend more money on roads. Highways should be widened and gaps closed. State roads should be repaired and new ones built. Roadwork should be planned better.

The program names the A 20 and A 39, gap closures on the A 26 and A 33, and the widening of the A 1, A 2, A 7 and E 233. Part of the investment would go into a program for roads passing through towns, to relieve traffic pressure in town centers. Building necessary new state roads would again be eligible for funding. Further measures include more truck parking along highways, digital traffic management, night-time and round-the-clock construction sites, and additional traffic coordinators for roadwork and congestion management.

The CDU wants to expand local public transit by road and rail, reopen disused rail lines and introduce an electronic fare that works across transit associations. For apprentices and people doing voluntary service, it aims for a statewide ticket costing no more than 365 euros a year.

The CDU wants more buses and trains, especially in the countryside. Old rail lines should run again. People should book rides by app and pay per kilometer. Trainees should get a ticket for at most 365 euros a year.

Stations, bus stops and information services would be made accessible. Timetables would be coordinated across transit association and district boundaries. Municipal transit authorities would get incentives to make the student and trainee ticket permanent and broaden it. Where reopening rail lines is not possible, bus services would be stepped up. For the Hamburg–Hanover rail upgrade, the CDU backs upgrading existing lines under the extended Alpha-E concept. The share of electric and hybrid buses would rise, particularly in large cities.

The CDU wants to support electric mobility, synthetic fuels and fuel cells without committing to one technology, and to expand charging infrastructure. Carsharing, shared taxis, citizen-run buses and on-demand services would also be supported, especially in rural areas.

The CDU wants to support several new ways to power vehicles. These include electricity, hydrogen and synthetic fuels. There should be more charging stations. The countryside should get more shared cars and on-call buses.

Plans include funding programs for charging stations, support for municipal companies building them, and comparable payment options and uniform electricity rates. Charging points at store parking lots and on municipal property would be open to residents at night. In public transit, electric and hydrogen drives would get more funding through the state transit agency LNVG; hydrogen trains would run on lines that are not electrified. More test regions for on-demand shuttles modeled on the elbMobil and pilot projects on autonomous driving would be added. The CDU also wants to support start-ups with ideas for sustainable mobility.

The CDU wants to continue the state bike path program and give it more money. A seamless cycling network in cities and rural areas would be planned across municipal boundaries, with funding for its implementation.

More and more people ride bikes or e-bikes. The CDU wants to spend more money on bike paths. Bike paths should connect well everywhere. Taking bikes on buses and trains should get easier.

Additional staff positions for cycling matters are meant to speed up construction. A cycling route plan coordinated with cities and towns would take everyday, commuter, school and tourist traffic into account. Taking bikes on public transit would be improved, and secure bike parking at stations and bus stops would be subsidized. Because e-bike use is growing, wider bike paths would be allowed and charging options created.

The CDU wants more noise protection along rail lines and main roads and tougher action against deliberately loud vehicles. It points out that, according to the WHO, noise is the environmental problem with the second-highest disease burden after air pollution.

Traffic noise can make people sick. The CDU wants more noise barriers along roads and rail lines. People who illegally make their vehicles louder should pay fines. Such vehicles should be taken off the road.

A dedicated unit for noise protection would be set up at state level. Illegal noise-increasing modifications would be punished with effective fines and the vehicle taken out of service, and a practical noise test would be introduced for traffic checks. The CDU wants road traffic regulations to define permissible noise more clearly and vehicle approval procedures to ensure a limit of 78 dB(A) in real-world operation. Traffic orders would be easier to issue on especially noisy routes, and the assessment period for noise calculations would be adjusted for routes with heavy seasonal noise.

The CDU wants to improve road safety because new modes of transport such as e-bikes and scooters raise the demands on it. Pilot projects for 30 km/h speed limits would be evaluated and allowed where they prove worthwhile.

There are more and more e-bikes and scooters on the roads. The CDU wants to make traffic safer. A 30 km/h limit should be tried in test projects. Where it makes sense, it should be allowed.

Roads, especially state roads, would be repaired and maintained. Bike paths and sidewalks along district and municipal roads would continue to receive funding. New technology for checking speed and following distance would be tested in pilot projects for everyday suitability. At the federal level, the CDU wants to make sure emergency braking and lane-keeping systems in trucks cannot be switched off.