For two years, the community of Bichl has been fighting with Deutsche Bahn to find a transport solution for two level crossings.
Now the group has let everything go.
Transport Minister Schreyer will shortly be sitting at the table with all those involved.
Bichl
- The matter originated in 2016 at the “Am Bühel” crossing at the cemetery.
At that time, the trains began to horn for safety reasons, because a count had shown that a constant number of vehicles were crossing the open crossing.
The honking from early morning until late at night robbed the residents of sleep.
The “Am Bühel” level crossing is closed so that the train does not have to honk its horn every time
The solution was to only open the transition for agricultural and forestry vehicles as well as for cyclists and pedestrians. That worked quite well for a while, the maximum number of vehicles was not exceeded during measurements. But after a near-accident in the summer of 2019, the railway ordered the horns of the trains again. In order to end the loud signal tones, the municipal council forced the transition to be completely closed. Since then, iron mesh fences have prevented the rails from being crossed.
Discussions had already taken place in advance to solve the problem: The small level crossing is not only important for farmers to get to their areas in the moss easily, but also useful for cemetery visitors and inner-city traffic.
The community would like to have a barrier, and they would even share in the costs.
But apart from the fact that a barrier could not be implemented before 2035 for technical reasons, the railway rejected a barrier on the grounds that Bichl already had several crossings in the village and that they wanted to give up small level crossings in principle.
The railway only wants “Am Bühel” to be a crossing for cyclists and pedestrians.
To compensate, the traffic situation at the B11 level crossing should be improved
Bichl gave in - also because the railway offered to improve the transition at Bundesstraße 11 (junction to Klosterallee Töl 5).
Here it is confusing for cyclists, and farmers are not allowed to turn left - there is a risk that they will stop with a long vehicle while waiting because of oncoming traffic on the rails.
Talks were under way and the community was quite confident.
"Various compensatory measures such as paths to the B11 running parallel to the track and other options were discussed," recalls Mayor Benedikt Pössenbacher.
Suggestions from farmers at the citizens' assembly were also taken up.
At the request of the railway, the municipality also - successfully - carried out property negotiations in the turning area of Töl5.
The area remains up-to-date - meanwhile the current situation is even regarded as a "problem area" by the district's cycle path concept.
Deutsche Bahn is now surprisingly bursting everything
The State Building Authority has also recently been involved in talks with Deutsche Bahn.
Ideas for a cyclist underpass on the B11 were drafted at the end of August, reports Pössenbacher, all those involved had so divided that Deutsche Bahn would carry out three cost calculations: for the crossing “Am Bühel”, for a barrier “Am Bühel” and for Turn lanes on the B11 / Töl5.
A few weeks later, however, everything fell apart: According to Pössenbacher, the railway did not submit a cost estimate and is not planning any compensatory measures to improve the situation on the B11 / Töl5.
"It was said that you were not responsible for cycling problems," says Pössenbacher.
We are now only talking about a new crossing for cyclists and pedestrians "Am Bühel".
Bahn does not feel responsible for improving the cycle path network
Pössenbacher is furious when he reports on the situation. "It's like Monopoly: suddenly you have to go back to the game," he says annoyed. In the meantime, the clerk has changed, appointments are difficult to get. “It can't be that the railway suddenly throws two years of planning overboard without justification.” At the request of our newspaper in the Deutsche Bahn press office, this remains very vague: In the area of the B11 “we are working on a joint solution interested in the community of Bichl ”, it says succinctly. The responsibility for the road and cyclist network lies with the road construction agency. One is not responsible for improving the cycling network, and the proposed solutions put forward by the municipality do not correspond to the principles of economic efficiency.
What the railway could imagine on the B11 itself and in what period of time they want to implement this, this question remained unanswered despite repeated inquiries.
CSU member of the state parliament arranges a meeting with Minister Schreyer
The situation “Am Bühel” is now also becoming confused: Here, the railway accuses the municipality of Bichl not having yet signed the planning agreement for the bicycle and pedestrian crossing.
Pössenbacher counters: "We haven't done that yet because the promised compensatory measures have been completely unilaterally dropped by the railway."
The CSU member of the state parliament, Martin Bachhuber, also speaks of an “intolerable situation”.
He described the problems to Construction and Transport Minister Kerstin Schreyer.
With success: On December 22nd, Bachhuber, Pössenbacher and an employee from the State Building Authority met with a representative of the railway in the minister’s office.
Bad Tölz newsletter: Everything from your region!
Our Bad Tölz newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the Bad Tölz region - including all the news about the corona crisis in your community.
Sign up here.
