After 36 years, what many people no longer believed in has now been completed: the relocation of the Hausham level crossing.
A look back and a look ahead to the past and the present.
Hausham - Mayor Jens Zangenfeind (FWG) sounds unusually calm on the phone for the occasion of the conversation.
Actually, there is reason to celebrate, as a historic building project was completed two weeks ago.
It's about the level crossing in Hausham, the laying of which had occupied generations.
So why wasn't there an official opening?
Zangenfeind explains: “An official event doesn't fit in with the time - that's why I think it's right to forego it.” Meanwhile, the real news has gone under for many: “The traffic has been rolling regularly since the last weekend in October,” reports the mayor .
Thorough.
Sober.
In a good mood - but according to the circumstances.
Only technically there is still a need for improvement at one point or another, says the town hall boss, who always has an eye on the traffic with a view from his office window.
“The barrier did not close a couple of times when the train passed.” However, a warning system informed the trains of the Bayerische Regiobahn (BRB).
"They then roll in very slowly." There was never a dangerous situation.
Too much technology, too many traffic lights.
Level crossing open since the end of October - traffic routing "takes getting used to"
The latter are also what Zangenfeind nibbles on as a car driver: "At first glance, the complex system takes getting used to." But the positive news predominates: "The closing times have been significantly reduced." Citizens give positive feedback, reports Zangenfeind.
This is probably also due to the significantly shortened traffic jam lengths that the mayor has been able to observe every day in the past few years as far as the eye could see.
In addition to the barrier function, the community at the railway is also committed to getting the unsightly concrete wall on the side of the town hall nicer.
"Something should happen here by spring," says Zangenfeind.
+
Long waiting times at the old level crossing in Hausham - which is now closed.
© Thomas Plettenberg
A tight schedule and small requests - compared to the duration of the overall project and its adversities.
The level crossing has been criticized since the mid-1980s.
Many concepts have been considered since then.
In the place of the old level crossing, however, they were unsuccessful: a blockade of the crossing was clearly rejected by referendum, a lowering - the so-called trough solution - failed because of the money.
For a traffic light solution - the so-called Büstra system - too many traffic lights would have been necessary.
As early as 2001, so community manager Rudi Randler recalled in an issue of Miesbacher Merkur in 2011, the relocation of the transition was discussed for the first time.
But at that time the railway declined: at a distance of 70 meters, it was no longer a matter of relocating, but of a new crossing.
This is not possible without a bridge / tunnel solution.
The same argument, so Randler in 2011, was also made this time.
But the building authority and the Federal Railway Authority did not follow this view.
This cleared the way for the relocation.
Series of delays in laying
In the matter of fact, this prognosis has now come true - only the time schedule at that time was estimated too sporty.
“The relocation will take until 2014,” read at the time.
In 2013, however, the relocation was not expected until 2015. In the meantime, the property negotiations responsible for the delay had been concluded.
In 2014 everyone was talking about a possible start of construction in 2016.
Blame for the renewed interim delay: "the fine-tuning of documents" - in German: the bureaucracy.
Documents first had to go to the government of Upper Bavaria.
The building authority led the planning because the issue of roads turned out to be more complex than the level crossing itself.
Then, in 2016, the government of Upper Bavaria and a private person slowed down with the demand for an air hygiene report.
This - and a "water management issue" on wastewater disposal - postponed the projected start of construction to 2018. Depending on the financial resources of the road construction authority.
The timeline finally ends in recent history: In 2019, the starting shot for mid-2020 was announced - which initially failed due to a signature run.
On March 15, 2021, the redemption: the start of construction.
While Schlierseerstrasse and Industriestrasse were recently renewed, traffic rolled back over the old crossing for a short time.
The overall measure was then completed at the end of October - even a month earlier than planned in the meantime.
+++ The planned relocation of the Hausham level crossing received a lot of criticism. Mayor Jens Zangenfeind thinks wrongly. In the interview he explains why. +++
Everything from your region!
Our Miesbach newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the Miesbach region - including all the news about the corona crisis in your community.
Sign up here.
(nap)
