Transport Infrastructure

	For many enterprises their choice of location will depend on how quickly, and by which means of transport individual locations can be reached. This is why the transport infrastructure of East Wuerttemberg in particular, with its situation in the heart of Southern Germany, constitutes a significant basis for the development of the region.
	Source: Regional Association of East Wuerttemberg

			Road travel:
			The most important elements of the road network for supra-regional travel are the national motorways A7 and B29. The A7 (North-South axis) from Scandinavia to the Alps efficiently links the region to the national network of major transport routes; the B29 (East-West axis) gives direct access to the Stuttgart region. This central position ensures that the cities of Munich (at about 120 km) and Frankfurt (at about 225 km) are only a one to two-hour drive away. The cities of Stuttgart and Ulm can be quickly and easily reached.

			Rail travel:
			The region is well integrated in the network of the national rail company, the Deutsche Bahn AG. The inter-regional (InterRegio) connections of Aalen, Ellwangen and Schwäbisch Gmünd on the Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Nuremberg line, as well as the Heidenheim connection, are part of this network. The cities of Ulm and Stuttgart can be reached quickly by train, with connections to the intercity (IC) and intercity express (ICE) network. Thus the journey time between Schwäbisch Gmünd and Stuttgart is 33 minutes, and between Ellwangen and Nuremberg only 58 minutes.

			Air travel:
			Two established regional airports are located in Elchingen and Heubach. Stuttgart Airport lies about 35 km from the regional boundary, Nuremberg Airport is at about 90 km.