Sea connection: city and rail agree - comparison instead of 170 million lawsuit

Created: 12/30/2022, 9:08 am

By: Peter Schiebel

View of the tracks and the See train station from the direction of Tutzing: The city and railways have now reached a fundamental agreement on the reorganization.

Details are not yet known.

© Andrea Jaksch

The city of Starnberg and Deutsche Bahn AG have agreed on an out-of-court settlement regarding the lake connection.

Details are to be announced in January.

Mayor Patrick Janik is already talking about a "huge win for the city".

Starnberg

- "Deutsche Bahn AG and the city of Starnberg agree": Under this heading, the city administration sent out a press release on Thursday at 1:26 p.m., which contains one of the largest projects in the history of Starnberg - the lake connection.

"After intensive negotiations lasting almost two years, the city of Starnberg and DB have agreed on an out-of-court settlement to end the pending claim for damages of 170 million euros, which DB filed in December 2019," says the communication between the top of the town hall and Deutsche Bahn .

The agreement was notarized on December 22nd

The city council had already approved the draft contract ten days earlier with one dissenting vote.

However, the approval of the Deutsche Bahn board of directors, which is required for real estate transactions of this magnitude, is still pending, and a decision on this is to be taken in January.

Starnberg See station is to be rebuilt

Until then, both sides will continue to adhere to the agreed confidentiality.

There were therefore no statements on Thursday about the contents of the agreement.

Only so much: "A result that was satisfactory for all parties could be achieved with the aim of converting the station to current requirements, especially with regard to accessibility, and of optimally treating the areas that become free after the conversion of the railway facilities in terms of urban planning “.

With regard to financing, a way was found that enabled the parties to reach an agreement.

“The coming year will have to show whether this path is viable.”

Sometimes in the Starnberg town hall, sometimes in the premises of Deutsche Bahn AG on the Donnersbergerbrücke in Munich: the negotiating delegations from the city of Starnberg and Deutsche Bahn AG struggled for almost exactly two years to reach an agreement on the matter of the sea connection.

On average, they met every two months, led by Mayor Patrick Janik and Rita Kremp, authorized representative of DB Netz AG - until an agreement was notarized on December 22nd.

The 170-million-euro compensation lawsuit by Deutsche Bahn against the city for non-fulfilment of the 1987 railway contract is thus off the table.

"Even though it is clear that the agreement that has now been reached with DB is only half the battle, I am happy about this important step,"

The See train station has presented a miserable picture for many years.

If the agreement that has now been reached is realised, it would be rebuilt "according to current requirements, especially with regard to accessibility", the city and railway said yesterday.

© Michael Stürzer

"Above all, I believe that the technical solution that has now been found would be a huge win for the city," Janik continues.

The parties involved are still silent about what this technical solution looks like.

The reason for this is the lack of approval from the Deutsche Bahn board of directors, which is required for real estate transactions of this magnitude.

A decision on this should be made in January.

The city council already approved the agreement on December 12 with one dissenting vote in a closed session.

The aim is to "convert the train station according to current requirements, especially with regard to accessibility, and to optimally treat the areas that become free after the conversion of railway facilities in terms of urban planning".

Patrick Janik: "The result is impressive"

When the topic was last publicly discussed in the See station project committee of the city council in January 2021, two variants were still under discussion: Variant 1, favored by the railways, which, among other things, involved moving the platforms to the north, a retaining wall towards the lake and a reversing track south of the station - and the variant 7 favored by the city, in which the platforms could be arranged near the historic station building.

Despite higher costs, for example due to a new company building, the city saw advantages for urban design, fewer impairments for visual axes and better development potential for free areas between the lake and Ludwigstrasse.

After approval by the Deutsche Bahn board of directors, the city and railway want to present the main contents of the contract at a press conference in January.

A public meeting is also planned.

Apparently there should also be a separate meeting for residents.

"I think the result is impressive, and I'm looking forward to finally being able to present this to our citizens," Janik is quoted as saying.

He also had a word of thanks to the railways: "At this point I have to thank our negotiating partners on the part of the DB Group for the tough, but always fair and constructive negotiations."

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Bahn had sued for 170 million euros in damages

In addition to the eagerly awaited content, information on costs and financing should also be of great interest.

Deputy Mayor Angelika Kammerl, who was part of the city's negotiating delegation, told Starnberger Merkur yesterday that the city would need a significant amount of funding.

As far as the further procedure is concerned, the present rough plan must be worked out in detail.

In addition, a plan approval procedure is required, at the end of which the building permit is issued with the plan approval decision.

This process takes several years.

All discussions are based on the railway contracts concluded on January 23, 1987, which were never completely fulfilled.

After a mediation between the city and the railways failed in 2019, the group filed the 170 million lawsuit, to which the city responded with a statement of defense.

Only after Patrick Janik had replaced the then mayor Eva John did the talks resume.