On 7 July 1999, the then Federal Minister of Transport Franz Müntefering informed the Bavarian Minister-President Edmund Stoiber that the new line and upgraded line would not be built for the time being. Because of the high cost of the project estimated to be DM 7 to 8 billion, other transport projects in Northern Bavaria, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia would have been impossible. The scarce available funds would have to be used as efficiently as possible, according to Müntefering. In coordination with Deutsche Bahn, the Federal Government was pursuing a new strategy, in which the emphasis would be on the maintenance and upgrading of existing routes. The section between Erfurt and Arnstadt would be connected by a modified intermediate section to the existing line between Arnstadt and Saalfeld. Trains at Arnstadt would be routed to Saalfeld via a connecting line to the Großheringen-Saalfeld railway and would run from there to Nuremberg. The journey time from Erfurt to Nuremberg would therefore decrease from 186 to 143 minutes. An extension of the construction through the Thuringian Forest was kept open. The Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bahn decided not to pursue the project any further. Other alternative plans, however, were to use the Erfurt-Arnstadt-(Saalfeld) section with diesel regional cars. The Saxony-Anhalt Transport Minister Jürgen Heyer demanded to realisation of the new lew line over its full-length. The proposals led to disputes within the then CDU/SPD state government in Thuringia. Minister-President Vogel (CDU) was not able to defend his position at a cabinet meeting, calling for a correction of the decision at the federal level. It became an issue in the Thuringian Landtag election in 1999, in which Minister-President Vogel criticised the federal government repeatedly because of this decision.