The Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway is a German high-speed railway, between Nuremberg and Erfurt. The line is listed in Germany's federal transport plan as Verkehrsprojekt Deutsche Einheit Nr. ("German Unity transport project no") 8.1 and is a section of the high-speed route between Berlin and Munich and a section of the line connecting Italy and Scandinavia in the European Union's Trans-European Rail network. It consists of an upgraded line between Nuremberg and Ebensfeld and a new line between Ebensfeld and Erfurt. The journey time between Erfurt and Nuremberg will be reduced to approximately one hour and 20 minutes after completion. The planning began in 1991 and construction started in April 1996. Three years later construction was stopped by the new SPD-Green coalition government formed after the 1998 election and only recommenced in 2002. The new line was opened at the timetable change on 10 December 2017. The timing of the final commissioning of the upgraded section is still uncertain. History A trunk line between Berlin and Munich was contained in the German railway network proposed by Friedrich List in 1833. The line between Erlangen and Ebensfeld was part of the extension built in the 1840s as part of the Ludwig South-North Railway (Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn). The current route, which was opened in 1851, was not based on comprehensive transport planning, but was a consequence of a network that evolved from 1840 out of lines built to serve local purposes. Since then line improvements and technical upgrades have taken place. After German reunification, the lines were restored, renovated and electrified. According to Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB), it would be necessary to construct a new railway line because traffic forecasts showed a strong increase in passenger and freight traffic between Berlin, Leipzig, Erfurt, Nuremberg and Munich. These traffic volumes could not be handled with the existing infrastructure. The quality of operation of the existing lines would be unsatisfactory, partly due to heavy use and long service times, and it would be virtually impossible to upgrade them. Line improvements would usually have significant environmental impacts and would have strong impacts on existing buildings, due partly to dense settlement in the narrow valleys that the line passes through. The requirements of a modern railway in terms of traveling times and speeds could not be achieved by upgrading existing routes. In mid-March 1991, Deutsche Bundesbahn announced a surprise direction from the Federal Ministry of Transportation to develop a new