The Bavarian state government knew about the cost explosion on the second main route even earlier than known - namely since April 2020. This is based on documents received by the FDP MP Sebastian Körber.
Munich – The second main route has currently disappeared from the media.
But that shouldn't last long.
On October 10th there will be a special session of the transport committee in the state parliament on the cost increase for Munich's second S-Bahn tube, which will cost 7.2 billion instead of 3.8 and could also be completed much later than hoped (2037 instead of 2028).
At the end of September, FDP MP Körber, who heads the state parliament's transport committee, expects new figures from Deutsche Bahn, which has not yet presented its version of things despite persistent inquiries.
The previous figures come from the Ministry of Transport by Christian Bernreiter (CSU), where a so-called construction supervision is to monitor the project.
End of April 2020: Ministry estimates costs at 5.2 billion
This body is also the focus of research by Körber, the results of which are available to our newspaper.
Accordingly, on April 28, 2020 - i.e. more than two years ago - "the alarm bells of the state government should have rung", as Körber puts it.
On this day, the construction supervision announced "for the first time, based on a rough estimate, a possible cost increase from 3.8 billion to 5.2 billion euros" for the second trunk line, as the ministry now announced based on a query from the state parliament.
"Responsible employees of the State Ministry for Housing, Construction and Transport took part in the presentation of the results of the construction supervision," it continues.
At that time, Kerstin Schreyer (CSU) was Minister of Transport.
Further details result from the answer to the parliamentary request.
On September 25, 2020, the railway informed the Ministry that the opening could be postponed to 2034 - while the public continued to announce an opening date of 2028, unperturbed.
Internally, people had been better informed for a long time.
DB board of directors declined
Alarmed about the new facts, Schreyer informed her party colleague and Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer about the development on October 7, 2020.
But he reacted differently than expected.
He passed the matter on to the then DB Infrastructure Board Member Ronald Pofalla, who, in a letter to the Bavarian Ministry on October 13, 2020, however, dismissed the statement and only described it as an "initial basis for discussion".
Nevertheless, Schreyer's officials were so alarmed that on December 23, 2020 - as was already known from a report in the "Augsburger Allgemeine" - they informed Markus Söder's state chancellery in a fire letter about "enormous risks".
However, the disaster only became public knowledge a year and a half later – at the end of June this year.
Questions now arise for Körber: Why did the Ministry of Transport wait so long – more than two years – before informing the public?
Even if there are now even higher figures: A cost increase from 3.8 to 5.2 billion, i.e. by 1.4 billion euros, is "nothing trivial".
The role of Markus Söder should also be clarified.
At the turn of the year 2020/21 he was still under discussion as a possible candidate for Chancellor of the Union, says Körber.
It would not have looked good if a major project at home got out of hand.
"They swept it under the carpet," suspects the deputy.
He calls it a "bottomless mess".
At the urging of the FDP MP Körber, a DB board member is to come to the transport committee on October 10th – Körber would prefer Berthold Huber, head of infrastructure.
He must finally explain which cost and schedule the railway is now pursuing.
