World Cup organizing committee head Franz Beckenbauer, Interior Minister Otto Schily and Transportation Minister Manfred Stolpe said Wednesday that federal and state governments will invest €4.5 billion ($6 billion) in the country's transportation system by 2006.

Germany's famed speed limit-free autobahns will be polished and new, and railways between major World Cup hubs like Berlin, Leipzig and Hamburg improved to cut down on travel time. Local transportation links and Germany's airports will also get money for improvements.

Speedy trains connect Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig

"The first impression foreign visitors will have of Germany will be at the airport or train station," said Schily, according to Reuters. "The World Cup is a chance to show off the beauty and advantages of our country, something we're not always aware of ourselves."

For the past few years, the Deutsche Bahn has invested millions into improving the rail system between key World Cup cities. The Berlin to Hamburg connection, which once took more than 2 hours to travel, now takes only 90 minutes. The trip between Leipzig and Berlin will also be cut down 30 minutes to one hour by the time fans start arriving in Germany.

"We're running right on schedule," said Deutsche Bahn CEO Hartmut Mehdorn, who was also at the press conference.

Mehdorn's new crown jewel, the €700 million main train station down the street from the Chanceller's office in Berlin, is due to be completed in 2006. Mehdorn said Wednesday that the World Cup is providing the initiative for improvements.
"We're using the World Cup as a shot of adrenaline," he said.

Good connections between 12 venues

The World Cup is expected to bring three million people to Germany. Games, which will run from June 9 until July 9 in 2006, will be held in stadiums in Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Kaiserslautern, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne.

Berlin, which will host the final and five other matches, will reserve two local trains and buses just for World Cup traffic. Visitors who have tickets for a match will be able to travel for free on that day.