fastest time is 70 minutes, due to uncompleted work at rail junctions in Cologne and Frankfurt. Construction The construction of the route began on 13 December 1995 with the turning of the first sod at the Frankfurter Kreuz autobahn junction and the last dispute over the route was settled in May 1997. On 13 May Federal Minister of Transport Matthias Wissmann in Siegburg turned the first sod in North Rhine-Westphalia. The last section to commence construction was the Schloss-Röttgen tunnel on the Cologne-Bonn airport loop, which was required in the settlement of a law case: work on it commenced in December 2000. The first section completed was the new Frankfurt airport station, which went into operation on 30 May 1999. The opening of the whole route, which had originally been planned for 1999, took place after numerous court challenges and geological problems, at the end of July 2002. The last tracks of the route in the Schulwald tunnel were installed on 10 July 2001. In the same month the first trips with diesel locomotives were run to adjust the height of the overhead electric lines on the southern section. On 22 October 2001 for the first time an ICE 3 ran on the line, on a section between Frankfurt airport and Idstein. During construction, traffic on the neighbouring A3 was significantly affected and up to 48 building sites with a reduced maximum speed of were operating simultaneously on the autobahn. Up to 15,000 people were employed on the construction of the railway line. of earth was removed during the tunnel construction and approximately of concrete were poured. 1,400 miners were hired and 13 people died in accidents during construction of the tunnels. Opening and start-up The symbolic opening of the line took place on 25 July 2002 with a special train carrying approximately 700 honoured guests. On 1 August 2002, the first passenger services commenced, originally with a two-hourly service and later with an hourly service. In December 2002, the full service commenced, integration into the European timetable, although there were many disruptions to services in the first few months due to technical failures. On 13 June 2004 the Cologne Bonn Airport loop was put into service. At the end of September 2004 the Siegburg/Bonn station was finally completed. Route In Cologne ICE trains follow three paths to reach the high-speed line: from the north (Düsseldorf or Wuppertal), running via