Karlsruhe on the Lookout
Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV) Managing Director Alexander Pischon discusses what makes local public transport in Karlsruhe so special and why Karlsruhe plays an important role in sustainable mobility in Germany and Europe.
Interview with Alexander Pischon, elaborated by Schirin Redzepovic.
Schirin Redzepovic: What characterises the Annual POLIS Conference?
Alexander Pischon: The POLIS Conference is an important platform for exchanging and promoting knowledge and ideas on innovative transport solutions across Europe.
It creates a dialogue between players from industry, public institutions, and civil society. In doing so, the Conference promotes sustainable mobility such as local public transport and improves networking between the respective players. After all, well-functioning local transport is crucial for reducing CO2 emissions and promoting environmentally friendly, climate-friendly, and clean cities in Europe. Experts from the mobility sector in particular offer inspiring input for the municipal level on climate protection-orientated mobility solutions with best practices.
Redzepovic: This year the Annual POLIS Conference is taking place in Karlsruhe. What characterises Karlsruhe's public transport system?
Pischon: Karlsruhe has an internationally recognised, well-developed public transport system. The ‘Karlsruher Modell’ is a real export hit—both at home and abroad. It creates direct, transfer-free connections between inner-city trams and regional railway lines. Karlsruhe city centre is thus directly linked to the surrounding area. Technically, this is possible because the dual-system trams can run at different voltages in the city and on the railway line. During the transition, it switches from the direct current voltage of the tram to a neutral line without voltage and then to alternating current voltage.
The light rail system now runs on almost all railway lines in the region. The length of the Karlsruhe light rail network has grown to 663,4 kilometres, exceeding the length of most urban rail systems in the major conurbations. Using this concept developed in Karlsruhe, dual-system light rail systems based on the ‘Karlsruher Modell’ have been operating in the Saarbrücken region, for example, since 1997. In Kassel, the Regiotram at the main station connects the city centre with the surrounding area. There are also concrete projects in Bremen, Braunschweig, and Chemnitz. The AVG subsidiary Transporttechnologie-Consult Karlsruhe (TTK) is also acting as a technical consultant for the expansion of a new line between Haifa and Nazareth in Israel. The ‘Light Railway Line’ will then run both within the city centre and in the surrounding area.
Redzepovic: What specific innovative mobility solutions are there in Karlsruhe?
Pischon: Together with experts and Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (VBK), we are driving forward the transport revolution by developing apps such as KVV-regiomove and projects such as regioKArgo.
The KVV-regiomove mobility app offers our passengers alternatives to their own car in real time. This makes us a nationwide driver of innovation. Up to now, only very few apps have allowed you to plan, book, and pay for intermodal journeys. Whether e-scooters, buses and trains, shuttle services, rental bikes or car-sharing services, the KVV.regiomove app can show us the way through the transport of the future.
In the field of logistics and goods transport, we are also focusing on innovative approaches such as the LogIKTram and regioKArgo TramTrain projects. The AlbtalVerkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG) is involved in this project, which is pursuing the idea of transporting goods by light rail with researchers in Karlsruhe. The aim is to create an innovative and environmentally friendly transport system for urban and regional supply, so that delivery traffic on the roads is relieved and air quality in cities can be improved accordingly. With these concrete ideas, we are a big step closer to climate-neutral, sustainable mobility and Karlsruhe is at the forefront as an innovative location in Germany.
Redzepovic: What are the challenges of sustainable mobility?
Pischon: The requirements for wellconnected public transport are becoming more and more extensive in perspective. The desire for sustainable mobility also harbours challenges, but with the right measures, these can be overcome or resolved.
The more we expand our rail network and increase the number of journeys, the more complex it becomes. Of course, the cross-industry shortage of skilled labour is causing us problems.
On the one hand, we have many drivers who are not far from retirement age and, on the other hand, we are constantly expanding our KVV network. We cannot cover the difference ad hoc with newly trained drivers because it is becoming increasingly difficult to find qualified applicants.
However, we are currently in the process of eliminating this deficit by offering 100 more training places per year and intending to provide as of 2025 at least ten qualification courses at various locations in our service area.
Our challenges also include economic aspects. Our innovative mobility solutions require considerable investment, which we usually cannot afford on our own and therefore require intensive support from the federal and state governments. In addition, an intact infrastructure with nationwide access must be guaranteed to maintain public transport in the long term.
Last but not least, the fare revenue does not even come close to covering the operating costs. This costs a lot of money and requires qualified staff, which is becoming increasingly difficult to find.
Redzepovic: The Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV) is taking over the central coordination of a test field for automated driving. What development opportunities do you see for this future-oriented project?
LogIKTram
KVV, Paul Gärtner
Pischon: As the operator of the ‘Testfeld Autonomes Fahren Baden-Württemberg (TAF BW)’, KVV is available to all interested customers from industry and research as a service partner for the use of the test area.
We are delighted to be actively involved in shaping this innovation process for the mobility of the future. The development opportunities here are many and varied. We are creating a very well-networked infrastructure that covers over 200 kilometres of all types of public roads in Karlsruhe and Heilbronn. This will enable us to expand the projects that TAF BW would like to utilise in the future.
We are also setting a milestone in terms of new technologies in public and private transport, which will also open up new perspectives in freight transport. In cooperation with the cities of Karlsruhe, Bruchsal, and Heilbronn, as well as the research institutions FZI Forschungzentrum Informatik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and many others, we have a future-oriented consortium that will ensure sustainable mobility in the long term.
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About the contributos:
Interviewee: Alexander Pischon, Managing Director, Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV). Prof. Dr. Pischon is Chairman of the VDV regional group in Baden-Württemberg and has been the CEO of the public transport companies VBK, AVG, and KASIG in Karlsruhe since July 2014. He is also the sole managing director of KVV and company representative of Transport Technologie Consult Karlsruhe and lectures on transport science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
Interviewer: Schirin Redzepovic, Media spokesperson, Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV). Redzepovic has been press spokeswoman for the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (KVV), Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG) and Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe (VBK) since 2024. She studied Science Communication at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, graduating with a Bachelor of Science. She has many years of experience in PR and communications, having previously worked in marketing and as a content manager.
KVV, Paul Gärtner