I Talk to Everyone, Because the Transrapid Has No Political Color
A personal word from David Harder, operator of magnetbahn.de
I have run magnetbahn.de for years out of conviction, independently and without party-political ties. My goal is to inform the public, based on facts, about the opportunities and advantages of the maglev train. The Transrapid is not a question of ideology but a technically and economically superior solution for long-distance travel, and that is precisely why it must not be distorted along party lines.
I live up to this standard, not just in theory but in concrete action. In the past I deliberately sought and maintained contact with all parties represented in parliaments. In 2021, for example, at the invitation of the Greens’ county association in Emsland, I gave a talk on the future of the Transrapid Test Facility in Lathen. In 2023, I supported members of the Greens from Hamm with amendments to their party platform in order to anchor maglev trains there. In 2024, I exchanged ideas with Volt (a pan-European party) to jointly draft a position paper on the use of maglev trains. And a youth organization of the FDP from Bremerhaven was also supported by me in its Transrapid initiative, with the result that even the then Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing responded positively.
But my claim to neutrality does not end with conversations with party-affiliated groups. It also applies to the reporting on maglevhub.com. There I document the statements and initiatives of all relevant parties equally, regardless of which direction they come from. In 2024, for example, I also reported that Federal Transport Minister Wissing (FDP) personally inspected the Transrapid in Shanghai and formed his own impression aboard the moving train. At the same time, maglevhub.com also gives space to the AfD parliamentary group’s Transrapid motions in the Lower Saxony state parliament from 2024, just as it does to earlier positions taken by CDU members at EU level or the Greens’ solar panel initiative in Emsland.
I don’t judge, I document. My yardstick is not who says something, but what is said or proposed, and what contribution it can make to the factual discussion around the maglev train.
The same was true when I handed over my Transrapid petition to the German Bundestag (federal parliament) in 2025. I contacted all parliamentary groups, but only the AfD declared its willingness to accept the petition as a group. A handover to an SPD member of parliament was initially planned as well, but did not happen because he got in touch late and then canceled. So it was not a political decision on my part but a reflection of the parties’ actual willingness to talk. I merely represent the current political willingness to engage, for which I am in no way responsible.
And when members of parliament, whatever their parliamentary group, show interest in visiting the Transrapid Test Facility, I support that wish as well. Because I see it as my responsibility as an activist and subject-matter communicator to enable and accompany every factual engagement with this technology, independent of party, respectful and solution-oriented.
Lately, some people seriously claim the Transrapid is now “burned” just because of all parties the AfD is interested in it. Anyone who says such a thing either has no idea about political reality or is engaging in deliberate disinformation. Because the truth is: in recent decades, no major party has truly and lastingly championed the technology. Many have burned their fingers politically on it in the past, because the topic was burdened by earlier wrong decisions, and that is exactly why hardly anyone dared to touch it publicly in recent years. I was, and am, one of the few who have not given up on the Transrapid anyway. For over 5 years I have run magnetbahn.de, held conversations, written, researched, organized, educated, and I regularly run into a wall of disinterest, rejections or silence. I know from my own experience what it means when everyone ducks away the moment you so much as utter the word “Transrapid”. And now it is suddenly supposed to be my fault if a party shows interest? Anyone who thinks this way has a questionable understanding of democracy. An idea is not wrong just because it is supported by the “wrong” side, and a democracy that rejects good proposals only because it dislikes the supporters has not understood its own principle. Anyone who seriously believes the technology is finished “because the AfD wants it” mainly reveals a disturbed relationship with fact-based politics. I won’t take part in that.
The Transrapid is too important to leave to party-political blockades. I work for the cause, and I welcome anyone who wants to join the discussion openly, honestly and factually. That will remain the case.
Best regards,
David Harder – operator of magnetbahn.de and initiator of the Transrapid petition with nearly 62,000 signatures
