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[quote user="243129"]So what you are telling me is that the German Railways were built exactly to the same parameters on the same roadbed as pre-World War2. Is this so?[/quote] You ask this question over and over again and I answered it. Perhaps you should read my answers or might be you are hindered by the moderation. So once again, the railway was rebuilt on the old alignment with the old parameters wherever possible. Changes were not made for higher speeds. [quote user="243129"]Excerpt from the WashingtonPost : But here in Europe, the legacy of the Marshall Plan is visible for all to see: in high-tech railways and highways, in prosperous, modern cities, in products from perfume to fighter jets. Four of the seven richest nations on Earth are European recipients of Marshall Plan assistance.[/quote] Interesting article. Your quote has one flaw. As the article was writen in May of 1997 it describes the situation correctly for that time, 50+ years after the end of WWII. At that time (!997) German Railway had ICE trains since 1991. Perhaps another quote from this article: Schmidt wrote: "There were days during the winter of 1946-1947 when we stayed in bed because there was nothing to eat and nothing to burn for warmth." Before that terrible winter, the Germans dug thousands of graves for the number of people they knew would starve to death before the earth had thawed. Mr. Schmidt was German chancellor from 1974 to 1982. Or another quote: American soldiers occupying Germany often found, when they went to discard their uneaten rations, a German begging for the scraps. All basic products were rationed. The daily ration of bread -- a dietary staple -- in France was 200 grams a day, less than a long baguette loaf. To buy a coat in Germany, you had to request a permit; it was often denied. A pack of Chesterfield cigarettes cost 100 marks on the black market, a third of one month's average wage. And in that situation railroad managers think about higher speeds on the railway? Really? The only energy sources Germany (West) had were the hard coal mines in the Ruhr Area and the soft coal pits between Cologne and Aachen. For its distribution the track needed repairs as fast as possible. Regards, Volker
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