Railway infrastructures have been the backbone of transport infrastructure for over 100 years. This has resulted in an attitude among the population that goes far beyond the purely rational use of the railroad. In addition, the transport policy in both countries prioritized the rail transport mode until 1989. With the structural change after 1990, the railroad lost significant traffic shares, caused by the decline in rail freight traffic and the growth of individual motorized traffic. This meant that the associated railway infrastructures were often dispensable. The dismantling of railway lines is usually hesitant or often met with skepticism or rejection among the population. Any adjustments to transport infrastructures must be prepared comprehensively and communicated with citizens and other stakeholders at an early stage, and the recording and evaluation of the widest possible range of conceivable development scenarios for the regions concerned is required. In the SN-CZ border area, traffic on individual railway lines has been reduced or discontinued in almost all regions in the past 25 years. In very few cases, however, the physical dismantling of the infrastructure took place. The aim of the project is to exchange experiences on how to deal with disused railway lines, to present specific examples and to review implementation options under the specific conditions of the respective region. The project also deals with the example of the currently closed railway line No. 132 (popularly known as the goat railway), which is important for the Czech region and runs from Děčín to Teplice. On-site inspections take place and considerations of the possible further use of this route (such as resumption of rail traffic, hiking / cycling paths, use for road traffic, etc.) are discussed in accordance with the needs of the region and its population. Representatives of local / regional administrations, interest groups (e.g. transport companies, destination agencies, environmental associations) as well as experts and students are invited to participate.

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The different starting conditions, options for action and legal framework conditions for new uses of existing rail infrastructures are presented and discussed comparatively in terms of an exchange of experience, both with regard to different (such as the size of the cities, support structures, legal situation) and similar (structural change, demographic development) starting conditions. 4 workshops will take place: - Change in the meaning of regional railway infrastructures - Chances and limits of new usage concepts of existing railway infrastructures - Models for citizen participation and acceptance development for the reallocation of railway infrastructures - Regulatory aspects as well as best practice examples In particular the framework conditions for different usage concepts, the acquisition of relevant actors as well as suitable ones Communication strategies are discussed. Another project goal is to publish a summary of the workshop results as well as the concrete possible scenarios and effects for route No. 132 on the project homepage (CZ partner). This route no. 132 is visualized by means of aerial photographs including a representation of the possible bicycle route. The project also deals with the aspect of sustainability: on the one hand, with regard to the continued use of existing infrastructures and, on the other hand, through the focus on above all sustainable regional development impulses. On the German side, the project thus makes a contribution to linking the potential of existing railway cycle paths and increasing public awareness of this tourist offer as a combination of active relaxation and getting to know regional industry / transport history. In this regard, the project focus will be on cross-border and / or near-border railway cycle paths. At the workshop, participants not only meet from 2 countries, but also from a wide variety of areas (local politics, citizens' initiatives, associations, technical experts, etc.) who will actively discuss the topic of "Change in use of rail infrastructures".

(This is an automatic translation by Google Translator.)