Deutsche Welle’s China correspondent Frank Sieren reports that China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) has contacted Intis, the company that owns the test track at Lathen, northwest Germany, on the option of putting it back to operation. CRRC has contacted several European firms in the railway industry sector, like Germany’s Thyssen-Krupp, Knorr-Bremse and Beckhoff, and the Dutch firm Hardt Hyperloop, on potential cooperation in the development of new maglev trains.
If CRRC decides in favor of Lathen, the track there could be reopened within 18 months, after some technical updates, Intis CEO Ralph Effenberger says, stressing that revitalizing Lathen not only would be in the national German interest but could be an example of “how global cooperation in the development of a new, climate-friendly transport technology can function.”
