Bernburg/Cochstedt. Cochstedt-DLR bus stop: When the bus brings staff or visitors to the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), they will soon be able to board and alight without any barriers and use a waiting area sheltered from the wind and weather. This was also a request from the National Test Centre and a proposal for cooperation put forward to the district administration. The Salzlandkreis is upgrading the public transport stop on Kreisstraße 1307 to meet new standards. The new shelters are due to be in place and all work completed by the end of April. A symbolic ground-breaking ceremony took place today, Thursday.
The district and the DLR site in Cochstedt had reached a cooperation agreement in advance, which covers everything from planning to cost sharing. The DLR is covering the planning costs and a quarter of the construction costs. The remaining sum of the approximately 90,000 euro investment in the transport infrastructure will be borne by the Salzland district from grants for the barrier-free expansion of bus stops in accordance with the Saxony-Anhalt Public Transport Act.
"Our ideas coincide here," says District Administrator Markus Bauer, referring to the Salzlandkreis 2030 future strategy, "We are creating reliable framework conditions for the region in terms of public transport. I am very grateful to the DLR and its Director Daniel Sülberg for their cooperation in realising this. The extension of the bus stops is another piece of the puzzle, good for everyone who has or will find work and accommodation here. It is in both our interests to further develop the DLR site in Cochstedt and the Salzland district as a centre for living, business and science."
"The National Testing Centre is growing," says Director Daniel Sülberg. "This applies to the number of projects, the test and research infrastructure and also the number of employees. There are now over 60 people working in Cochstedt." He continues: "Against this background, it was important, for example, that we were able to complete the conversion of the former terminal building last year and put it into operation in order to have additional space for our future work. The DLR site in Cochstedt should be an attractive place to work, especially for potential new employees from the region. And this also includes accessibility by public transport. We are therefore delighted that we are able to improve the infrastructure here together with the Salzland district and that colleagues who come to work by public transport will soon have 'a roof over their heads' at the bus stop."
Two barrier-free stops in both directions of travel have now been created from an adopted solution, equipped with a vestibule, special kerbs for the narrowest approach of the buses and tactile guidance systems, i.e. tactile floor coverings for orientation. This expansion follows the growing demand and requirements of the district's local transport plan and the Passenger Transport Act.
The location is firmly integrated into the public transport network. The Salzland district transport company serves the Cochstedt-DLR stop on line 144 Aschersleben - Winningen - Schneidlingen - Egeln with an average of eight pairs of journeys a week from 6.04 am to 6.34 pm. There are good connections for commuters and travellers in Aschersleben and Egeln.
For almost seven years, Cochstedt Airport in the Salzland district has been an integral part of the DLR's National Test Centre for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). It offers the opportunity to test UAS at a commercial airport that is actively operating at the same time. Over the past few years, a testing environment for UAS that is unique in Europe has been established in the Salzland district. In cooperation with politicians and authorities at state and federal level, extensive opportunities have been created there for the use of technologies that would be unthinkable at a "normal" airport, such as laser technologies or the simultaneous test operation of manned and unmanned aircraft. In recent years, the DLR has invested around 20 million euros in this "real laboratory" - for upgrading the site, new test infrastructures and the gradual expansion of flight operations.