On 13 May 1997, the ceremonial beginning of the construction of the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed line in North Rhine-Westphalia was celebrated in Siegburg: the North Rhine-Westphalian Economics Minister, Wolfgang Clement, Federal Minister of Transport, Matthias Wissmann, and Deutsche Bahn chairman, Heinz Dürr, operated a device symbolising three levers of a lever frame of a mechanical interlocking.
On 13 May 1997, the inaugural ceremony marking the commencement of construction on the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line in North Rhine-Westphalia was held in Siegburg: the North Rhine-Westphalian Economics Minister, Wolfgang Clement, Federal Minister of Transport, Matthias Wissmann, and Deutsche Bahn chairman, Heinz Dürr, operated a device representing three levers of a mechanical interlocking system.