Accordingly, the reactivation of three of the railroad lines no longer used for local rail passenger transport is to be driven forward immediately and vigorously. These are the lines:

Salzgitter-Lebenstedt - Fredenberg (investment volume: EUR 5.23 million)

Einbeck - Salzderhelden (8 million euros)

Neuenhaus - Bad Bentheim (15.1 million euros)

Minister Olaf Lies commented on the status of the process: "We have now reached the point where we can continue working on three very specific projects. We will now immediately enter into talks with the public transport authorities and the local authorities in order to achieve realization as quickly as possible. Final decisions should be made before the summer break."

The Ministry of Transport has set up a steering committee for the selection process. This includes the four parliamentary groups, local authority associations, local rail passenger transport authorities, the Association of German Transport Companies, the local transport alliance, the passenger association "pro Bahn" and BUND.

From a list of 74 rail routes originally used for local rail passenger transport, the steering committee agreed in two stages in 2013/14 on a reduction to 28 and then eight routes.