line on the Nuremberg–Coburg–Sonneberg (state border) route. Up to seven train pairs per day are foreseen. Between Nuremberg and Erfurt the journey time of three hours (2014) will be shortened to about an hour. The travel times between Berlin/Leipzig/Dresden and Nuremberg/Munich will be shortened by about one and a half to two hours during the same period. A node of the clock-face timetable is to be established at Erfurt station. Trains will be scheduled to arrive and depart every hour between the minutes of 24 and 36 and regional services will be scheduled to arrive and depart between the minutes of 16 and 44. With the start of passenger services on the new line, Naumburg, Jena, Saalfeld and Lichtenfels will lose their long-distance services. Freight traffic According to data from 2016, DB Cargo expects to have sufficient ETCS-equipped locomotives to be able to run freight traffic on the high-speed line. A forecast then expects a maximum of 20 freight train pairs per day; with an upgrade of the existing stretch to Erlangen to four tracks, it would be able to run 30 freight train pairs per day. From 2025, 60 freight trains would operate daily over the new line. 140 freight trains are to be operated over the existing line ("Saalbahn"). For a freight train from Halle (Saale) to Nuremberg, the price for operating a train will be €2180 via the new line and €985 via the current line (as of 2016). The route over the high-speed line is 30 kilometres shorter and less steep (a maximum grade of 2.0% instead of 2.7%). Technology The high-speed is intended exclusively for electric traction and is equipped with class Re 330 overhead line. The new line will be built using slab track, although overtaking tracks and connections to the existing network are being built with conventional ballast. The distance between track centres will be 4.70 metre and the planning width of a straight section of track is 13.30 metres. In the Thuringian section of the line, the track distance was adjusted to 4.50 metre in a change of plans in 1998. The planning width was reduced to 12.10 metres and the cross-section of the tunnel was reduced from 101 to 92 square metres. The additional cost of maintaining the larger track distances in Bavaria was estimated by the Federal Audit Office in 2014 to be at least €35 million. The Federal Railway