Commentary on the S-Bahn accident: CSU transport ministers preferred the road to the train
Created: 02/15/2022, 22:23
By: Klaus-Maria Mehr
"On the single-track disaster route from Bad Aibling, nothing has changed six years after the accident that killed twelve." Dirk Walter comments.
© Haag/Hermsdorf-Hiss
Soon we will go back to the proverbial agenda, says our author and railway expert Dirk Walter.
Nothing has changed in Aibling to this day.
Political responsibility lies with the CSU transport ministers, who have long preferred roads to rail.
A comment.
Like a magnifying glass, the Schäftlarn train accident exposed the vulnerable areas of the railway in Bavaria.
But you don't have to be a prophet to predict that after the shock, routine will follow very quickly.
The proverbial transition to the agenda.
It remains a pious wish that the deficiencies of the railways in Bavaria will change in the short term.
It has long been known that a third of all S-Bahn routes are single track.
This is actually unworthy of a metropolitan area like Munich.
But there is a lack of pressure to act.
Even the technical equipment of the single-track disaster route from Bad Aibling has not changed six years after the accident that killed twelve.
why?
The culprit, a dispatcher with a mobile phone, had been found and sentenced.
Investing in technology and track construction is expensive and time-consuming, the chain of responsibilities is long - no one is legally responsible for omissions.
What remains is political responsibility: And there are many examples where the road was preferred to the train.
Just one example: how could the CSU transport ministers allow over a billion euros to be shoveled out for the construction of a car tunnel system around Garmisch-Partenkirchen - but nothing was left for the railways (single track near Garmisch!)?
Something like this must not be repeated.
It is correct that the traffic light promised to invest more in rail than in road in the future.
But there is still no proof that in a society that values the car, the train does not end up on the sidelines.
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