Platform screen doors for the subway: MVG buried the pilot test planned for 2023 – because of the costs
Created: 05/13/2022, 09:51
By: Sascha Karowski
Platform screen doors are to be installed on the new subway line 9.
However, there will not be a pilot test at the Olympic Center for the time being.
© MVG
The project platform screen doors for the subway in Munich is about to end.
The Munich transport company (MVG) wanted to test the system at the Olympiazentrum station.
But then Corona came.
Munich – In Munich there will be no platform screen doors in the subway for the time being.
As our editorial team has exclusively learned, the Munich Transport Company (MVG) is saying goodbye to the pilot project at the Olympic Center.
Platform screen doors should have been installed there as early as next year.
However, the costs are too high.
The transport companies have to save.
"Due to the effects of the pandemic, it is currently unclear when the test system can be implemented," says an internal letter.
Munich: Platform screen doors in the subway should provide more security
The idea of making subway stations safer with platform screen doors came up in 2017.
A feasibility study was positive.
After the death of a 41-year-old blind man at the Josephplatz underground station, the discussion about platform screen doors in Munich flared up again.
The CSU had applied for the pilot project at the Olympiazentrum underground station.
The station in the north is ideal because it has four platforms.
The platform screen doors should have been installed without causing any restrictions for passengers.
The new system would have consisted of a wall with inlets - these entrances only open when the train is stationary.
Underground stations in London and Paris are already equipped with it.
MVG decided to carry out the pilot test in 2019.
The project attracted a great deal of attention nationwide because shortly beforehand a boy had been pushed in front of an ICE train in Frankfurt.
Munich would have been the first city in Germany to introduce platform screen doors.
Most recently, the S-Bahn had also signaled that it wanted to test platform screen doors at the stations.
The MVG would have tailored the pilot test exclusively to the newer C-trains, which should be running on all lines from 2030.
So far only for the new construction of the stations for the U9 platform screen doors are provided, the MVG maintains over 100 underground stations.
The test should have lasted a year or two.
At the time, the costs were estimated at around one million euros.
Platform screen doors in Munich: CSU wants to stick to the project - "The city must not lose any more time"
Platform screen doors can not only prevent accidents, since these intermediate doors only open when the train has come to a standstill.
Malfunctions would also be minimized.
In 2018, operations had to be interrupted 340 times.
There were 215 people on the track, and 21 people were injured or killed.
In 115 cases, objects caused obstructions in subway traffic, in ten cases it was animals.
Against this background, CSU boss Manuel Pretzl absolutely wants to stick to the traffic test.
When asked, he said: "In order to get people to switch to public transport, we have to make them an attractive, regularly scheduled and reliable offer." Platform screen doors not only increase safety in public transport, but also enable higher frequency and more stable operation.
“They prevent people in the track bed and delays when boarding and alighting.
We demand the continuation of the pilot project.
The city must not lose any more time here.”
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