Schäftlarn railway accident: The S7 has long been known as a "problem line".

Munich – For years, critics have been complaining about a serious shortcoming in the Munich S-Bahn network - which also played a role in the S7 accident and which has hardly changed since the beginning of the S-Bahn era.

Numerous routes are only single track, a total of 31 percent.

Another 34 percent of the S-Bahn network is burdened with "mixed traffic".

That means: In addition to S-Bahn trains, there are also regional and freight trains.

As early as 2010, the S-Bahn management warned of this "risk" in an internal statement.

Instability and growth obstacles for the S-Bahn traffic are the result.

There are single-track lines everywhere in Bavaria - last but not least, the terrible accident in Bad Aibling in 2016 with twelve fatalities happened on a single-track line.

Railway experts also recall with horror a near-collision between two regional trains near Griesen (Garmisch-Partenkirchen district) in January 2020.

However, it is astonishing that a third of an already notoriously overloaded S-Bahn system has only been operated on a single track since the beginning of the S-Bahn era 50 years ago. A serious incident only occurred on the S7 line in August last year : Two S-Bahn trains approached each other near Icking, but were able to stop 150 meters apart.

A train driver was suspended at the time, he is said to have misinterpreted a signal as a departure command.

This was an indication of a speed limit.

he is said to have misinterpreted a signal as a departure order.

This was an indication of a speed limit.

he is said to have misinterpreted a signal as a departure order.

This was an indication of a speed limit.

The S7 is single track on both outer branches

Petershausen-Röhrmoos, Weßling-Herrsching, Grafing-Ebersberg, Erding-Markt Schwaben - there are a number of S-Bahn sections with just one track.

The S-Bahn route with the largest single-track sections is precisely the S7 line on which the S-Bahn trains now collided.

Both 17 kilometers of the western branch between Höllriegelskreuth and Wolfratshausen and the 28 kilometers between Giesing and Kreuzstraße only have one track.

Local politicians have been complaining about this for years, for example at an S-Bahn summit in our newspaper in 2018. The then Mayor of Neubiberg, Günter Heyland, said that the S7 had “long since reached its capacity limit”.

The S7 is a "problem line".

Commuters know it: again and again the S-Bahn simply rushes by at small stations,

because otherwise she cannot keep to the travel times and the oncoming train has to wait anyway.

Despite the known grievances, not much has happened.

Bavaria's Minister of Transport, Kerstin Schreyer, who lives on the route herself, gave little impetus.

It is probably typical of the railways that half a year after this explosive incident, the report of the Federal Office for Railway Accident Investigation is still a long time coming - the authority is known for its notorious slowness.