For the World Exhibition EXPO 2000, Hannover's transport system (public and private) needed to be expanded. The sustainability aspiration of the EXPO, and of course economic considerations, led to the idea to minimise additional investments for a large event of limited duration. Principles were established such as to: combine modest expansion of infrastructure with clever utilisation of existing capacity; bring forward investments which were agreed in long-term plans; overlap replacement cycles (e.g. of rolling stock) to generate a temporary capacity maximum at least abortive cost; implement an integrated management of public and private traffic; and establish corresponding institutional solutions. It was anticipated that all investments made should have long-term effects after the EXPO, and should support the economic power of the region. Infrastructure construction and equipment purchase were completed in time. Although overall visitor numbers were below projections, the transport system's capacity was successfully challenged several times. Economic results were generally good, but some arrangements with lower performance were questioned by politicians. The time after the event shows that most, but not all decisions would be made today in the same manner. Altogether, the philosophy and its outcome show remarkably good results and reinforce the high level of intermodal integration in this city. For the covering abstract see ITRD E126595.
Samenvatting