Barriers at last: level crossings released after years of struggle by the community

Created: 12/23/2021, 06:51 AM

From: Katrin Hager

Barriers at last: Mayor Klaus Thurnhuber is happy that more safety is provided at the level crossings at Thann (picture) and Lochham.

© Thomas Plettenberg

The municipality of Warngau has been waiting for this for many years: On Wednesday, the new level crossings at Thann and Lochham went into operation after the renovation - with the long-awaited half barriers, which the municipality had to fight hard for.

Warngau

- In normal times, a small ceremony might have taken place yesterday. That fell flat in the face of Corona. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant day for the Warngau mayor: the newly built barrier systems at the two level crossings at Lochham and Thann were officially approved by an inspector recognized by the Federal Railway Authority and went into operation on Wednesday. “This is a milestone because we had to deal with safety at the level crossings for so long and it was so difficult up to now,” says Klaus Thurnhuber.

After serious, sometimes fatal collisions between trains and cars at the unbarred level crossings in the Warngau municipality because drivers had overlooked the red light, the municipality tried for years to enforce barriers there - especially from 2011, after two young men on the Thann level crossing had died.

But every drilling was unsuccessful.

Years of tough struggle

During an on-site visit, the town hall chief even broke the collar. “I was still young then,” Thurnhuber says with a laugh today. At that time he was pissed off: DB Netz AG repeatedly announced that a level crossing would only be upgraded if another would be closed without replacement. For the community an immoral offer that they could not accept. "These roads are paved and will be cleared in winter because they are used," emphasizes Thurnhuber. “You can't just dismantle it. This infrastructure is particularly important in rural areas. "

In 2018, the municipal council decided to put 500,000 euros in the budget every year - for the third that municipalities had to bear in the construction costs for level crossings at the time. In 2019, the municipality even obtained an offer for a renovation on its own. In fact, the municipality is now completely out of the costs - around one million euros per crossing, according to Deutsche Bahn: An amendment to the Railway Crossing Act has now come into force, according to which the railways, the federal government and the federal state share the costs - i.e. the Free State instead of the municipality.

It was not until the technical aftermath of another accident at Thann that things got moving.

On September 8, 2020, a couple with a baby was seriously injured.

The small family's car had been thrown from the train into the control box, and the entire signaling system was destroyed.

With far-reaching consequences: the switch house not only controlled the signal systems at Thann and Lochham, but also the barriers at the highly frequented level crossings in Tegernseer and Miesbacher Strasse in Holzkirchen.

In autumn 2020 these had to be operated by hand for weeks before the technology was patched;

there were long closing times and, as a result, long traffic jams on the main traffic axes.

The connection with the Holzkirchen transitions has been dissolved

A problem that should no longer arise after the renovation: The technical connection between the four transitions was broken up into two duos.

The Miesbacher and Tegernseer Straße crossings in Holzkirchen are now connected to a common control system, as are the Lochham and Thann crossings.

Work had started in September, and mobile barrier systems had already been set up at the Thann and Lochham crossings.

There is still a need for action at two of the four previously unrestricted level crossings on Warngauer Flur: the one at Tannried on the sports field and the one on the municipal road to Piesenkam.

There are also modifications to be made there.

© Graphic: dak

Two more level crossings are still being rebuilt

The safety at level crossings project has not yet been ticked off yesterday in Warngau. However, the solution has also been put on the track for two more unrestricted and critical level crossings on Warngauer Flur. For the “Piesenkam level crossing” in the Warngauer Gemeindestraße in the direction of Piesenkam, Deutsche Bahn has started planning. “We are in contact with the community of Warngau and we are still at the beginning of the planning,” said a railway spokeswoman when asked by our newspaper. Thurnhuber also agrees with this state of affairs: “It was clearly communicated by the railway that it would first complete the two level crossings Thann and Lochham as well as the Holzkirchen level crossings. The whole technology was destroyed. "

The work in Piesenkamer Strasse - and with it the planning - will be much more complex: A crossing-free conversion is planned, the communal road is to cross under the railroad tracks there in the future.

Half barriers are also planned at the Tannried level crossing near the sports field.

This is also a critical point for Thurnhuber: "There, many young people ride their bikes to training."

ag