Deutsche Bahn (DB) has inaugurated Cottbus freight hub for transferring between road trucks and freight wagons which will allow companies from Cottbus and the Lusatia to be easier to move their goods via the more environmentally friendly rail transport.
The inauguration was attended by Dietmar Woidke, the Minister President of Brandenburg, Daniela Gerd tom Markotten, the DB Board Member for Digitalization and Technology, Jens Warnken, the President of the Cottbus Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and Imke Kellner, Head of Facilities and Maintenance Management East at DB InfraGO.
“The expansion of the transport hub at Cottbus plays a central role in the economic development of Lusatia. Through targeted cooperation between Deutsche Bahn, the Federal Government, the State, and further partners, we are accelerating processes and making progress visible –with the handover of the logistics terminal at the power station,” Dietmar Woidke said.
With the Cottbus freight hub, “we are creating an essential transshipment point for companies in Lusatia. It enables rail operators to flexibly connect individual wagons and thereby develop sustainable transport chains – offering companies greater planning certainty and environmentally friendly transport options,” Jens Warnken said.
The opening of the facility is part of the Task Force for the Cottbus Railway Site, a high-level German government and Deutsche Bahn (DB) initiative to coordinate and support the development of a new, state-of-the-art ICE high-speed train maintenance depot in Cottbus, Brandenburg.
The Task Force was instrumental in ensuring timely approval processes and establishing the project’s location in Lusatia, contributing to regional structural change and economic development by creating significant industrial jobs and apprenticeships. Hall 1 of Deutsche Bahn’s ICE maintenance workshop is progressing as planned. More than 550 employees have already been recruited for the new Cottbus facility, including many apprentices.
In 2022, DB began construction of the ICE maintenance depot in Cottbus, with Hall 1 — a 500-metre facility featuring three maintenance tracks — progressing on schedule. The project will be entirely completed in 2026.
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