Cochstedt. In the end, everyone had to wait a little longer for the bus shelters to be delivered, but they are now fully installed and ready for use – the new Cochstedt-DLR bus stop, located right next to the facility, on both sides of the district road.
For the official handover to all those who had been waiting for it, on Wednesday, 13 May, District Administrator Markus Bauer (3rd from left) had invited representatives from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the companies involved, as well as the town of Hecklingen and Cochstedt’s mayor, Steven Scheller (left), and Gerd Haßkerl (4th from right), managing director of the district transport company KVG.
"The Salzland district wants to continue to develop as a residential, business and science centre. The National Test Centre also wants to be a modern workplace at the Cochstedt site. The modern public transport bus stop is a good contribution for the people who live and work here and for the potential new DLR employees who are currently being sought from the region," emphasised District Administrator Markus Bauer. "Mobility is an important anchor in rural areas and public transport is a legitimate interest. I would like to thank the DLR for this joint project, for its active cooperation from the preparation and planning to the financing and maintenance of the bus stops."
Chris Pumptow (photo above, 4th from left) from the site management of the National Test Centre in Cochstedt also expressed his satisfaction with the cooperation and the result: "The DLR site in Cochstedt is growing, both in terms of the number of employees and the number of projects and infrastructure. We have many interested parties from near and far who want to travel here by bus and train. Employees are also already using the bus service. The new bus stop therefore contributes to the attractiveness of the location."
They all now have access to modern, barrier-free bus stops in both directions of travel, with special kerbs so that buses can approach as closely as possible for seamless boarding and alighting, with tactile guidance systems for the visually impaired, tactile floor coverings for their orientation, and with vestibules, protection from all weathers - at a total cost of around 90,000 euros. According to an agreement, the DLR will cover the planning costs and a quarter of the construction costs, as well as the subsequent maintenance. The Salzland district bears the remaining investment sum from grants for the barrier-free expansion of stops in accordance with the Saxony-Anhalt Public Transport Act. This investment is in response to growing local demand and the requirements of the district's local transport plan and the Federal Passenger Transport Act.
This is because the important DLR site is well anchored in the Salzland district's public transport network. KVG Managing Director Haßkerl knows: "In our network of a total of 1,100 stops, we offer an attractive service with the Cochstedt-DLR stop on line 144 from Aschersleben to Egeln and back, with an average of eight pairs of journeys between 6.04 a.m. and 6.34 p.m. and good connections for commuters and passengers."
The previous stop at Cochstedt-Abzweig Flughafen, more than two kilometres away and directly on the B 185 federal road, which was only used in individual cases, can be abandoned with this innovation.