the high-speed line along the A3, as built. It also agreed to the building of a station at Limburg. An option running through the Rhine Valley was now finally off the table. In the same way that the state of Rhineland-Palatinate demanded a station at Montabaur, the state of Hesse demanded a station on its territory. In an agreement of March 1990 the premiers of the two states as well as the federal transport minister noted that there was consensus that "a stop was required in the Limburg area". Discussion of options As part of the coordination between the federal government and the two states three options were tested in Limburg: The establishment of a station in Limburg, along with a station in Montabaur. The additional station in Montabaur would compensate for the lack of a connection to the Lahntal railway, which would not be possible in this option and was mainly required by the state of Hesse and corporations in the Limburg/Gießen area. Instead, the area of Koblenz would access Montabaur station by car (Dernbach interchange and Montabaur exit). Montabaur station also offered the possibility of a connection to the Lower Westerwald Railway to Siershahn. The cost of this option in 1991 was estimated to be 30 million Deutschmark (DM). The establishment of a station in Limburg-Eschhofen was also discussed. Passengers would have to overcome a height difference of about 40 m between the Lahntal railway and the new line to change trains. The town of Limburg saw this option as the best ways to link to the town's road network as well as to promote urban development. The costs were estimated at DM 90 million (1991 prices). The establishment of a station between Diez and Limburg, west of the above two options, which pass on the east city of Limburg, was also examined. A link between the Lahntal railway and the new line would have been short. The then Deutsche Bundesbahn saw disadvantages in the necessary construction of a viaduct over the Lahn and greater landscape fragmentation as a result of separation from the route of Autobahn 3 (A3). The cost of this option was estimated at about DM 65 million. This option was discarded not least due to the resulting fragmentation of the Diersteiner Aue (Dierstein floodplain) and the need to cross large deposits of limestone would have made it difficult to prevent the contamination of potable