Status: 03.10.2023, 19:39 p.m.
By: Dirk Walter, Dominik Göttler
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Boarding around the clock - even deep at night. That would also help some airport passengers. © Hans Moritz
Around the clock – even deep at night – with the S-Bahn home, that's not possible so far. Between 1:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., rail traffic is largely suspended. This has been bothering the MVV districts for years. Now there is a new push.
Munich – Night-loving young people from the surrounding area know the problem. Getting home from the club at night is difficult, because the last S-Bahn is already gone. Example: The last S4 from Munich Central Station to Fürstenfeldbruck leaves at 1:41 a.m. on weekdays, then again at 4:30 a.m. Nothing works for three hours. Only on weekends does a "rag picker" still drive, who picks up the night audience at 2:41 a.m. The situation is similar with the other lines: Example S2 to Erding: Last S-Bahn on weekdays from the main station: 1.31 a.m.; first: 5:11 a.m. Here, too, there is only at least one S-Bahn on weekends, which starts at 2.31 a.m. – after that there is a yawning emptiness on the railway track.
We have been in favor of night commuter trains for a long time.
District Administrator Robert Niedergesäß
Now, however, the Munich subway is switching to 24/7 traffic – a half-hourly service on all lines around the clock – and is putting the S-Bahn in a tight spot: "We have long been in favor of night S-Bahns," says Ebersberg district administrator Robert Niedergesäß (CSU), who is spokesman for the MVV districts. The demand already appears in a position paper entitled "Future perspectives for the Munich S-Bahn from the point of view of the Verbund districts". The fact that there is "no regularly timed range of services between about 1 a.m. and about 5 a.m.", it says, is "no longer up to date for such a prosperous metropolitan area". The paper dates back to 2016 – but in the seven years since, nothing has happened in night traffic.
Night S-Bahns: Pro Bahn is in favour of it
Last year, the passenger association Pro Bahn called for an initiative without meeting with an echo. "That's a topic, you have to address it more often," says Pro-Bahn spokesman Andreas Barth. A manageable and reliable basic service even at night – such as a one-hour interval on all lines – is necessary.
When they are not spending time in the city, young people often share a taxi. However, this comes at a price. According to the Munich Taxi Center, a taxi ride from the main train station to Fürstenfeldbruck costs an average of around 75 euros, and 65 euros to Starnberg. Since many young people have a 49- or even 29-euro ticket, the S-Bahn ride at night would be practically free.
As always, costs and personnel availability are decisive. According to MVV District Administrator Niedergesäß, there are enough trains. According to conservative estimates by experts, the costs are expected to be around seven million euros. The Free State of Bavaria would have to pay for this.
So far, the Bavarian Railway Company (BEG), which orders local and regional transport on behalf of Christian Bernreiter's Ministry of Transport, has not been very receptive to the idea. At the request of our newspaper, the BEG only came up with one – admittedly unambiguous – sentence: "An expansion of the S-Bahn night traffic is currently not planned."