S7 extension to Geretsried: suspension instead of S-Bahn?
Created: 06/30/2022, 06:00
By: Peter Borchers
Heinz Wensauer opponent of the S7 extension © Hans Lippert
Heinz Wensauer, opponent of the S7 extension, looks at the gondola of a Munich start-up with fellow campaigners.
The concept is not yet mature
Wolfratshausen/Geretsried
– Heinz Wensauer had imagined things differently: Only a handful of interested people accompanied the man from Wolfratshausen on Monday to the Munich start-up company Ottobahn GmbH, which wants to revolutionize local public transport with its innovative gondola railway.
The 80-year-old, a declared opponent of the S-Bahn extension to Geretsried, sees the Ottobahn as a good alternative to rail, which is much more expensive and not very sustainable, cuts up important agricultural areas "and thus only creates new building land".
Wensauer has an explanation for the low participation in the excursion: his fellow campaigners, mostly farmers and the affected landowners, “had to make hay because of the weather forecast”.
Since the 80-year-old had already visited the company, he left the questions to his companions on Monday.
Farmers Magdalena Haase, Georg Ambacher and Robert Mayr learned that one kilometer of Ottobahn should cost around five million euros, which is up to 90 percent less than one kilometer of S-Bahn.
However, the trio also learned that – engineer Thomas Prey is very honest about this – there are a number of issues that need to be resolved before the train can run efficiently in public transport.
Read the latest news from Geretsried here.
Wensauer is aware that the gondolas are far from ready for series production.
"It's now important to me that people see more than just the rails when it comes to connecting Geretsried to public transport." So the tireless 80-year-old wants to come back as soon as the Ottobahn test track in Taufkirchen goes into operation - " but then with many more people, including politicians” in tow.
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You can read all the news from Wolfratshausen here.