Ammergaubahn: Trains will start rolling again on July 4th - Pro Bahn: "Overall, the situation for passengers is a disaster"
Created: 07/01/2022, 07:08
By: Roland Lory
An advertisement at the Murnau train station makes it clear: there are no trains going to Oberammergau.
© Lory
In the Passion Year of all things, the Murnau–Oberammergau railway line is closed for weeks.
For better or for worse, passengers have to switch to buses.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Murnau
– Murnau train station, Thursday, 8.30 a.m.
Around 20 women and men are standing in front of a bus whose destination is Oberammergau.
However, a driver cannot be seen at first.
A few minutes later he shows up.
"Maybe he'll even drive us to the hotel," hopes one of the passengers.
bus instead of train
For a few weeks now, commuters, holidaymakers and day-trippers who want to travel from Murnau to Oberammergau and vice versa have needed good nerves.
Because there are no trains on the Ammergaubahn.
There are repairs on the route, it is announced in the wagons.
Instead there are buses.
Norbert Moy, head of the regional group Oberland of the Pro Bahn passenger association, suspects that the closure is related to the train accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Apparently there were upper construction defects on the Ammergaubahn.
Superstructure is the ballast bed with track grid.
The train may be cautious.
Moy says: "Of course, caution always has priority." Maybe it was an "overreaction".
The repair was not announced.
Normally, the railway announces renovations a few weeks in advance.
Whether the route will be checked as a result of the train accident remained open yesterday.
"Deutsche Bahn maintains its infrastructure according to fixed deadlines and regulations, which are strictly monitored by the supervisory authority," said a railway spokeswoman.
work completed
The dry spell on the Ammergau Railway will soon be over: the inspection work has now been completed.
Operations are scheduled to start again on Monday, July 4th. That is of course gratifying, says Moy.
But in general, his assessment is devastating.
"Overall, the situation for the passengers is a disaster." What surprises the Pro-Bahn representative: "The outcry of the politicians is missing." The Weilheimer feels the condition of the infrastructure as a "scandal".
And the fact that the railway line to Oberammergau is closed for weeks in the year of passion is "the worst".
It is not only since yesterday that critics have warned that many routes have been neglected for a long time.
The accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen has now sharpened the view of the dilapidated infrastructure.
Also interesting:
the first course has been set for the double-track expansion of Uffing-Murnau
