Unguarded level crossing as a death trap in Bavaria: ant colony prevents necessary retrofitting
Created: 11/23/2022, 11:31 p.m
By: Carmen Krippl
The Seeburg level crossing is still unrestricted.
Opel of a 52-year-old was hit head-on by the train.
© Josef Reisner/dpa
Could the accident have been prevented?
It has been known for years that there must be a barrier at the Seeburg level crossing for more safety.
Seven people have already lost their lives there.
Soyen – Saturday evening, 6 p.m.
A 52-year-old from Soyen in the Rosenheim district wants to quickly cross the Seeburg level crossing in his Opel before the train arrives.
The transition is unrestricted.
The 52-year-old made a misjudgment, his car was rammed by a regional train from the Southeast Bavarian Railway and dragged 100 meters.
Any help comes too late for the man, he dies at the scene of the accident.
The tragic accident could possibly have been prevented if the Seeburg level crossing had already had a barrier.
Seven people died at an unrestricted level crossing: when will the barrier finally come?
According to the municipality, the railways wanted to carry out construction work on two of the three level crossings in Soyen that were still without barriers from October 28th to November 4th: Buchsee and Seeburg should each be retrofitted with half barriers.
In Seeburg, that doesn't seem to have happened.
In 2019, the dry grass knot ant prevented planned construction work on a barrier at the Seeburg crossing.
The five millimeter large insect is considered to be the host of the "Bright Blue-headed Blue".
This butterfly is on the Red List - the ant colony could not be dredged away.
The warning lights at the Seeburg level crossing were not sufficient to prevent the accident.
© OpenStreetMap contributors/Graphic: Münchner Merkur
A resettlement would have taken three years.
The railway planners therefore decided to relocate the switch box for the barrier system.
Soyen's mayor at the time, Karl Fischberger, was very upset about this.
He had looked around on site and even dug in the ground: "I didn't find any ants.
What kind of nature conservation is it that leads to such blockages?” he says.
Since the accident in 2007 it has been clear that something has to happen
The municipality of Soyen is cut through by the Rosenheim–Mühldorf railway line.
In 2019, only three of eight crossings for vehicles were restricted.
Over the past two decades, there have been an unusual number of serious accidents at level crossings.
By 2007 at the latest, all residents of Soyer were aware that something urgently needed to be done in terms of safety.
At that time, a 28-year-old milk tanker driver had crossed the unrestricted Mühlthal level crossing.
He was hit by a train.
The truck driver died and 30 train passengers were injured, some seriously.
The level crossing was destroyed and was closed.
A bridge was inaugurated just two years ago.
The unrestricted substitute crossing Hörgen was closed.
A 34-year-old driver from Gars died here in 2016 after colliding with a train.
The man's Mercedes was then dragged 250 meters from the train.
25 train passengers were injured.
Here, too, the warning light was not sufficient to avoid the accident.
Soyen's mayor Karl Fischberger said at the time: "This accident could have been prevented." It wasn't because of the lack of money.
The retrofit costs around 900,000 euros for each level crossing, with the railway, federal government and municipality covering the sum equally.
The fact that the position was still unrestricted was due to the lack of a signature from an external authority.
A total of seven people have lost their lives at Soyen's level crossings since 2007.
(CARMEN KRIPPL)
By the way: Our Bayern newsletter informs you about all the important stories from Bavaria.
Sign up here.