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Regensburg's ex-OB rails against the Stadtbahn: "No longer financially viable"

2022-11-10T17:03:10.337Z


Regensburg's ex-OB rails against the Stadtbahn: "No longer financially viable" Created: 11/10/2022, 5:50 p.m By: Michael Bothner In front of the Otto-Schwerdt-School, the head of the bridge, Joachim Wolbergs (on the microphone), met around 80 residents on Friday. © Michael Bothner Around 80 interested people come to a site visit with Regensburg's former mayor in Burgweinting - most of them cri


Regensburg's ex-OB rails against the Stadtbahn: "No longer financially viable"

Created: 11/10/2022, 5:50 p.m

By: Michael Bothner

In front of the Otto-Schwerdt-School, the head of the bridge, Joachim Wolbergs (on the microphone), met around 80 residents on Friday.

© Michael Bothner

Around 80 interested people come to a site visit with Regensburg's former mayor in Burgweinting - most of them critics of the light rail project.

Regensburg – The topic of light rail continues to heat people up in Regensburg.

At the end of last week, the Brücke group of ex-Mayor Joachim Wolbergs invited to a site visit in Burgweinting.

And a good 80 interested people came - mainly critics of the project or at least of the previously known route.

Transport project under criticism: Wolbergs “categorically rejects” the Stadtbahn

Joachim Wolbergs "categorically rejects" the Stadtbahn.

That's what he says right at the beginning of the two-hour inspection - and earns applause for it.

You're standing at the Otto-Schwerdt middle school on Kirchfeldallee.

In a few years, the light rail could pass the educational center.

The depot would be built a little to the west.

These are the current considerations, some of which are met with resistance.

(By the way: Our brand new Regensburg newsletter will keep you regularly informed about all the important stories from the World Heritage city and the Upper Palatinate. Register here.)

Stadtbahn in the crossfire: "What do the people in the Stadtbahn office actually do?"

But that's not why Wolbergs rejects the project.

In view of the tense global and budgetary situation, he simply no longer considers the light rail to be financially viable.

He also doesn't know what the eleven employees do all day in the city railway office, Wolbergs then etches.

In any case, he would rather put the money into bike paths and schools, he says.

It's tips like this that politicians hit the right nerve with the project opponents.

The fact that he considers the Stadtbahn to be “politically dead long since, regardless of the costs” is well received by many.

Regensburg's ex-OB criticizes the top of the city: "Administration is sent ahead."

The governing coalition makes it easy for Wolbergs.

The CSU is now showing with its cross shots on a weekly basis what they think of the transport project decided by the city council in 2018, reports the ex-OB.

The rest of the coalition now lacks any passion for the topic.

"You have to have a passion for it yourself," says Wolbergs.

But the city leaders send the administration forward, as they did last time in Sandgasse.

Wolbergs only has praise for the Greens.

Although they are still pro Stadtbahn.

"But at least they deal intensively with the topic," would worry - like the bridge.

The bridge also disagrees on the subject of light rail

And with a view to his parliamentary group, Wolbergs says: "You have to endure different opinions." Because Thomas Thurow, also a Brücke city councilor and also a member of the Stadtbahn Committee, does not want to anticipate the current plans too much and wants to wait for the master plan announced for autumn 2023 .

This should then specify the routes and present a clearer picture of the entire project.

"Now we're already on our way," said Thurow on Friday.

"Then we should give the whole thing a chance." Because the turnaround in traffic is unavoidable.

Many doubt the usefulness of the light rail system

Above all, the Stadtbahn opponents make themselves heard on Friday.

The predicted benefit of the Stadtbahn is doubted, pointing out that the route should lead through a local recreation area.

An almost empty bus driving through Kirchfeldallee around 4 p.m. during the appointment is used as evidence that this new public transport system is not needed at all.

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A barrier tape was drawn around the trees along a green strip, currently included in the plans as a possible route.

“Length of a light rail 45 m” is written on a cardboard box.

"Madness" and "unimaginable" is what one exchanges between the stations.

The fact that a route through the Villa Rustica and only a short distance further through the Aureliaweg is still marked in the plans strengthens many in their position.

Stadtbahn: Above all, the routing is the subject of criticism

Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer (SPD) had already emphasized at a citizens' meeting in Burgweinting about a year ago that she too did not see this route as feasible.

She was surprised herself when she first read about it, she explained at the time.

However, it is a requirement that several routes should at least be considered and weighed against each other in such large-scale projects.

It has to be evaluated according to a certain procedure, also in order to get the funding approved.

Without them, the million-dollar project is on the brink of collapse.

"But it is very, very unlikely that this route will actually come in the end," assured the mayor at the end of 2021.

Stadtbahn for Regensburg: Advocates are in the minority at the on-site visit

But hardly anyone can warm to alternative light rail routes in Regensburg's south-east on Friday.

The few supporters of the project tend to be alone.

Nevertheless, they don't want to remain unheard either.

A man and a woman remark that one cannot be surprised that the planning for the light rail system has been taken up.

"The surprise is rather that it took 20 years." A possible light rail route was already taken into account in the plans for today's residential area around Kirchfeld-Allee.

The local residents could therefore have known when they signed the contracts for their houses that this project could come one day.

An argument that Wolbergs and the rest of those present do not want to accept.

The man then leaves the event.

Most of them have already made up their minds, he notes.

The discussion is therefore superfluous.

Alternatives to the light rail?

e-buses?

Bridges?

cable car?

But what is the alternative to meet the urgently needed traffic turnaround?

One woman demands more electric buses.

This is cheaper and faster to implement than a rail system that is completely oversized for Regensburg.

In order to relieve the already congested traffic arteries such as the Nibelungen Bridge, a man also proposes the construction of new bridges over the Danube.

Wolbergs brings the autonomous minibuses driving in the business park into play.

That could possibly be expanded.

It would have to be thought of more "smaller" and more diverse overall, says Wolbergs, under whose direction the light rail was included in the coalition agreement in 2014 as a future transport project.

The city council briefly slipped the idea of ​​a cable car brought up by the bridge in the last local election campaign - to intercept the future increase in commuter traffic on the outskirts of the city.

Stadtbahn: Bridge wants to position itself soon

In the end, Thurow promises not to leave the decision on specific routes to the administration.

"We will represent your concerns." Wolbergs explains that the bridge wants to get through to a final positioning in the near future.

In view of the ex-OB's clear stance, there is probably little room for maneuver here.

Source: merkur

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