FDP on transport

The FDP wants to achieve climate protection in transport through innovation and competition among technologies, not through rules targeting individual modes of transport. It rejects blanket driving bans. The state should invest in research and infrastructure for climate-neutral drives, such as a comprehensive network of charging stations.

The FDP wants to support climate-friendly cars. It does not want to favor one technology. Customers should decide which technology wins. The FDP rejects blanket driving bans. There should be charging stations for electric cars everywhere.

According to the program, the best technology should prevail in fair competition, decided by demand rather than by politics. The FDP wants to reconcile individual transport with climate protection and opposes what it sees as an ideological fight against particular modes of transport. The state should invest broadly in research on alternative drives and the related infrastructure. For electric mobility, the program stresses fast-charging stations in particular. With political support, the car industry should become a leader in climate protection.

The FDP is skeptical of overhead power lines for trucks on highways and wants to put the money into the rail network and alternative drives. Hydrogen filling stations should be expanded and synthetic fuels made more readily available. In the party's view, this would also let existing combustion-engine vehicles run in a more climate-friendly way.

The FDP does not want power lines for trucks above all highways. The money should go to rail and new kinds of drives instead. There should be more hydrogen filling stations. Man-made fuels should be easier to get.

Hydrogen filling stations should be built first at transport hubs, and the FDP wants to support concepts for digitally linking vehicles and fueling infrastructure. It regards already available BtL fuels under the EN15940 standard as an immediate way to cut CO2 emissions because existing gas stations and the fleet of more than 50 million vehicles could continue to be used. Open legal and approval questions should be settled quickly. For fuels not yet ready for the market, such as power-to-liquid, the party wants to fund research, pilot projects and infrastructure until production is competitive, with mid-sized firms in mind. It sees particular opportunities for aviation through synthetic kerosene.

The FDP wants to make Hesse the top logistics location. Roads, rail and truck parking would be expanded, and new technologies such as transport drones and autonomous driving would be supported. A master plan for combined transport would speed up the reactivation or construction of rail lines and terminals.

The FDP wants Hesse to lead in moving goods. It wants more money for planning roads. There should be more parking spaces for trucks. Rail should also be expanded. New technology such as drones should be tested.

The plans include technology funding and test sites for logistics and traffic management systems, including automated parcel boxes and autonomous driving systems. Start-ups focused on logistics and transport would get targeted support. A "Logistics Atlas Hesse" would serve as an open data basis for new business locations, and training and university programs in logistics would be improved. The FDP wants to raise the standing of the truck driver profession and introduce telematic parking systems at rest areas. In combined transport, trailers that cannot be lifted by crane should also be able to go by rail.

The FDP wants to strengthen Hesse as an aviation location and abolish the air travel tax. It rejects a ban on short-haul flights and on low-cost carriers. Hesse should also become a pioneer in synthetic kerosene.

The FDP wants to strengthen air travel in Hesse. The tax on plane tickets should go away. Short flights should stay allowed. Low-cost airlines should stay allowed too. Hesse should develop and produce climate-friendly jet fuel.

The program justifies abolishing the tax by saying it brings no lasting climate benefit and puts jobs at risk. In the FDP's view, banning short flights would only shift traffic to other European hubs. It says low-cost carriers often make vacation travel possible for people with lower incomes. For synthetic kerosene, research and above all production facilities should be greatly expanded. At the federal level, the party wants to push for fair competitive conditions in European aviation and opposes predatory competition.

The FDP backs the further expansion of Frankfurt Airport, including Terminal 3, and wants to connect it to rail and local transit. The court-ordered nighttime flight ban should stay. The party rejects further operating restrictions beyond the existing planning approval.

The FDP wants to keep expanding Frankfurt Airport. The new Terminal 3 should be finished. It should get a link to trains and buses. Planes should still not fly at night. The FDP does not want more restrictions beyond that.

Terminal 3 is to be built with all planned piers. The FDP views the closer partnership between Lufthansa and airport operator Fraport positively. It wants to continue the measures agreed in the alliance for nighttime quiet, including noise protection and the law on compensating regional burdens. Landing fees should set stronger incentives for technical innovation, for example for modern and quieter aircraft types.

The FDP wants to expand local public transit and make the twelve larger cities reachable on a fixed schedule, ideally every 30 minutes. In rural areas, on-demand services would close gaps. The party rejects any further reduction in the share of costs paid by riders.

The FDP wants to expand buses and trains. Service to the larger cities should run every 30 minutes. In rural areas, vehicles should come when ordered. There should be more park-and-ride lots. But riders should not pay even less than today.

The surrounding region should be better connected to the Rhine-Main metropolitan area, which the FDP expects to ease settlement pressure on Frankfurt. Plans include more park-and-ride lots, free where possible, with room for charging stations, and digital information linking parking and transit. The program sees urban cable cars as a quick and inexpensive addition, and S-Bahn trains should get more Wi-Fi. Municipalities should be allowed to provide public street space for station-based car sharing. The FDP wants to support pilot projects with autonomous vehicles; everything should remain affordable for transit operators and municipalities.

The FDP wants more rail infrastructure in Hesse and plans to create a Hessian rail infrastructure company for this purpose. Several S-Bahn (commuter rail) projects in the Frankfurt area have priority. Rail noise is to be tackled with an overall plan.

The FDP wants to build more rail tracks in Hesse. A new state company should plan the projects. New commuter rail lines around Frankfurt should come first. The FDP also wants to reduce noise from trains.

The RTW planning company is to be turned into a Hessian rail infrastructure company in order to shorten lead times for large projects. The program names the Nordmainische S-Bahn, the Regionaltangente West and the extension of the S5 as most urgent; a southern tangent for an S-Bahn ring and a second S-Bahn tunnel in Frankfurt are to follow later. Routes are to be reserved early, affected residents involved early, and the state is to pay its share. Against rail noise, the program lists higher track fees for loud trains, innovation bonuses, noise barriers, speed and operating limits where unavoidable, and the same protection level for existing and new lines.

The FDP backs the long-distance rail tunnel in Frankfurt and wants it planned quickly. It should be approved through a Maßnahmegesetz, meaning directly by parliament. As an alternative, the party proposes an approval process modeled on Denmark's.

The FDP wants a tunnel for long-distance trains in Frankfurt. The tunnel should be planned quickly. Parliament should approve it with a law. Otherwise a fast process like in Denmark should apply.

The program calls the tunnel a key investment for the Frankfurt rail hub. It is meant to secure fast, reliable connections, relieve existing infrastructure and free up tracks for linking long-distance, local and regional services. Planning should provide enough long-distance tracks. The FDP also suggests an urban development plan to better integrate the station area into the city and expects improvements for public transit in the Rhine-Main region.

The FDP wants to upgrade key rail lines in Hesse and cut travel times, for example to under 40 minutes between Giessen and Frankfurt. Regional rail is to become more attractive through modern trains and better service.

The FDP wants to upgrade rail lines in Hesse. The trip from Giessen to Frankfurt should take under 40 minutes. Trains should be modern. They should have enough seats and Wi-Fi.

Between Giessen and Frankfurt there should be direct trains every 30 minutes with only one stop in Friedberg, including during the day. The Main-Weser line is to get four tracks as far as Giessen and be upgraded onward via Marburg to Kassel; Frankfurt–Mainz is also to get four tracks. For regional rail, the program lists enough seats, working air conditioning, Wi-Fi, better online services and Regio-Sprinter trains on busy routes. For long-distance rail, the FDP considers the ICE lines Frankfurt–Fulda, Fulda–Gerstungen and Frankfurt–Mannheim urgent.

The FDP wants to preserve Hesse's inland ports and connect them better to other transport routes. Inland shipping is to receive support for digitalization and for cleaner propulsion.

The FDP wants to keep the ports on Hesse's rivers. The ports should be better linked to road and rail. Ships should get help with digital technology. They should also get help with cleaner engines.

The program sees a growing role for inland shipping in combined transport. Support is planned for digitalization projects and for converting the fleet to carbon-free propulsion. The FDP expects innovation, for example in alternative propulsion, to bring competitive advantages and secure jobs.

The FDP wants to build more bike paths under a statewide plan and shift more responsibility to the state. Bike highways are to become a state task by law. The party rejects pop-up bike lanes because no mode of transport should be restricted one-sidedly.

The FDP wants more bike paths across Hesse. The state should take more responsibility for them. The state should build fast bike routes between suburbs and cities. The FDP rejects quickly set-up bike lanes on car lanes.

The state agency Hessen Mobil is to get more responsibility and enough planning capacity for bike paths, and planning is to be faster. Funding is to rise where bike paths make sense, especially in metropolitan areas; enough secure bike parking is to be built everywhere. A bike highway law is to settle responsibilities and relieve municipalities of the construction burden. The FDP expects benefits for climate and traffic as commuters switch. It wants fair conditions among all modes of transport and rejects measures it calls disruptive.

The FDP wants to drop the principle of maintenance before new construction and build and widen more roads again. It argues that traffic is growing and that climate-neutral cars will also need roads. State roads are to be repaired and extended more.

The FDP wants to build more new roads. Today Hesse's rule is: maintain first, then build new. The FDP wants to end this rule. Damaged state roads should be repaired and extended.

The FDP criticizes that the state is not planning 40 percent of the federally funded highway projects, including 16 bypasses, and wants to push for planning of the B508n. For state roads, investment should first match the loss in value, and then the network should grow. The Kommunales Interessenmodell, which let municipalities pre-finance bypasses, is to return. The highway ring around Frankfurt formed by the A5, A3 and A661 is to be well developed and signposted as the Frankfurter Ring.

The FDP wants construction projects planned faster and supports a fundamental reform of planning law at the federal level. Citizens are to be involved earlier, and duplicate reviews are to be eliminated.

The FDP wants building projects to be planned faster. The federal government should change planning law for this. Citizens should have a say earlier. The same thing should not be reviewed twice.

In the FDP's view, attempts at the state level have failed, so it relies on the federal reform. Public participation is to be run by the project developer and start early in order to avoid long court cases. Outside planning firms are to be used more, and digital planning is to cut processing times. The party also wants to examine whether decisions by parliament can shorten procedures and are legally permissible.

The FDP wants cleaner air mainly through local, technical solutions and better traffic management. It rejects blanket driving bans because, in its view, they create detour traffic and thus more pollution.

The FDP wants clean air in cities. But it does not want general driving bans. The party says cars would then take detours. Fewer traffic jams and on-demand buses are better. Very fine dust should be studied more closely.

The platform names innovative local solutions, more on-demand transport and smart traffic routing that avoids congestion. These are meant to keep pollution within limits and, where possible, below them. The FDP wants comprehensive research into the spread and effects of ultrafine particles. It supports efforts to reduce these emissions at the source.

The FDP wants to reduce traffic and commercial noise through research and both active and passive noise control. The existing night flight ban at Frankfurt Airport would stay unchanged.

Noise causes stress for people and animals. So the FDP wants more protection from noise. This includes noise barriers and quieter trains. Planes should still not fly at night in Frankfurt. New technology should make planes quieter.

Noise maps and measurements would form the basis. The platform lists targeted traffic calming, noise barriers, smart routing of traffic flows and technical improvements to trains. On aircraft noise in the Rhine-Main area, the FDP backs the Forum Flughafen und Region (airport and region forum) in developing quieter aircraft technology and better flight procedures. The goal is to reduce the number of people most heavily affected by noise. To that end, trial operations would be made legally easier under the Air Traffic Act.

The FDP wants more money for state roads and municipal transport routes and wants rural areas covered by fiber optics and 5G. This is meant to make rural life more attractive and relieve metropolitan areas.

The FDP wants more people to enjoy living in the countryside. There should be more money for roads and bike paths. Every home should get fast internet. Old rail lines should run again. Buses and trains in rural areas should also get money.

State roads would receive 200 million euros a year, and transport routes of counties, cities and towns more than 200 million euros a year. Every household, business and school would get a fiber-optic connection, plus full 5G coverage; gaps in the network would be closed. Public transit investment should not flow only to metropolitan areas. The FDP wants to fund pilot projects with self-driving vehicles and mobility platforms and reactivate disused rail lines.

The FDP wants to require the regional transit associations to provide on-demand rides, pooled rides and autonomous services, especially in rural areas. In addition, buses, trains and state roads would get continuous mobile coverage, and traffic would be managed digitally.

In the countryside, buses often run only rarely. The FDP wants to offer rides on request there. The transit associations should be required to do this. Buses and trains should have Wi-Fi and cell service everywhere. Prices should be simple.

The fare model should be simple and allow trips across transit association boundaries. All data relevant to public transit would be freely available in standardized formats, as would anonymized traffic data collected by public bodies. Digital ticket sales and operations are meant to cut costs. Digital infrastructure would get priority when roads and rail lines are built. Also planned are a 5G test area for autonomous driving, connected traffic lights and sensors for managing traffic and parking on state roads.