"No eye level" with the train: Participants in the Dialogue Forum Brenner-Nordzulauf throw up

Created: 01/28/2022, 15:25

By: Josef Ametsbichler

The participants in the DB Dialogue Forum asked 84 questions about noise protection and many other aspects of route planning.

At the same time, they are withdrawing from the events for the time being.

© Symbolic photo: dpa

The participants in the dialogue forum with the train to the north of the Brenner Pass in the district of Ebersberg feel that they are not being taken seriously.

They put the talks on hold.

District

- The tensions between the participants in the citizens' dialogue on the northern access to the Brenner Pass and the planners of the railway have escalated.

In an open letter, the stakeholders from the region of DB Netz AG announced their willingness to talk until further notice.

The undersigned wrote that they were “highly irritated” by the course of action taken by Deutsche Bahn.

These include the mayors of the neighboring communities, for example from Aßling, Bruck and Grafing, as well as the district administrator, but also stakeholders such as the representatives of the Bavarian Farmers' Association in the district.

Dialogue forum stopped: Demand for close-to-stock track planning

"Unfortunately, from our point of view, the dialogue does not take place at eye level," criticize the authors with a view to the plans for two new tracks between Grafing and Ostermünchen.

The central accusation: the railways do not respond enough to the demand to examine the four-track expansion of the existing route more closely.

The dialogue participants from the district of Ebersberg are therefore putting the dialogue forum for the Grafing-Ostermünchen section on hold for the time being - combined with the demand that the railways develop a variant for two new tracks directly on the existing ones.

The four variants presented at the end of 2021 all run between the south of Aßling and Schammach near Grafing on open land east of the previous tracks, with the exception of one proposal that provides for a close crossing of the Aßling area.

The signatories to the letter argue: "We are of the opinion that the carefully planned expansion of the existing route, taking into account sensitive areas and optimal noise protection, can represent the better route after weighing all the facts."

Signatories cite advantages of a four-track route

The advantages lie in the fact that no further fragmentation of the landscape is necessary and in the lower land use.

In addition, some of the land in question is already owned by Deutsche Bahn and there is “no new concern among the population”.

The railway, in turn, argues with the existing housing developments near Nettelkofen and Oberelkofen, where the military cemetery is also located next to the tracks.

There, as well as in the Attelleiten, which is protected as an FFH area, there is no space for two new tracks.

The participants in the dialogue forum want to see the possibility of a bridge through the protected area checked.

The signatories argue that between Grafing and Ostermünchen there is anyway a "braking and accelerating section" before the last stretch towards Munich.

The performance of the route is therefore not dependent on the consistently required maximum speed of 230 kilometers per hour.

The journey time, especially for the slower freight trains, could even be shorter than with some proposed variants because of the detour that the new routes meant.

Protest against previous planning status: Catalog with 84 questions to the railways

In addition to the open letter, the signatories, supported by all regional elected representatives from the state parliament to the European Parliament, formulated a catalog with 84 questions for the railways - from general issues such as planning specifications and time horizons to details such as inclination angles, cost factors and the Aßlinger town crossing or environmental issues.

In a first statement, the railway regretted the exit from the talks.

She appealed to the dialogue participants to keep the next appointment on February 2nd.

Your questions will be answered there.

The complete questionnaire can be found in raw text in this pastebin document.

You can find the open letter in the same format here.

You can read more news from the Ebersberg region here.

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Ebersberg newsletter.