The second main line for the Munich S-Bahn could come up to nine years later - and cost several billion more. The mayor is correspondingly angry. Mainly because nothing can be heard from the railway about the numbers.
Munich (dpa / lby) - Munich's Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) has shown annoyance with Deutsche Bahn after the alleged years of delay and cost explosion on the second Munich S-Bahn trunk line became known. He couldn't even imagine how that could happen. "The bad thing is that the railways don't tell us anything about it, that's the absolutely annoying thing about it," said Reiter on Friday on Bayern 2 in the "Radiowelt am Morgen". "We all assumed that the city of Munich would be informed as those affected. I note that to this day there is no information from the city of Munich. I find it frightening how they are treating us."
The day before it had become known that the Bavarian Ministry of Transport is assuming that the costs will increase from the initially estimated 3.85 billion to up to 7.2 billion euros. The commissioning of the second central S-Bahn route through downtown Munich could therefore be delayed from 2028 to 2037.
However, the ministry's project managers also complained that they did not know the current calculations by Deutsche Bahn and that the information was therefore an estimate. A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bahn emphasized: "We are in regular contact with our project partners. This also includes the time and cost plans for the project, which we are currently reviewing." However, this review is not yet complete, which is why she does not want to comment on the content of the process.
Although the facts from the railways are not yet on the table, there is already a dispute between Munich and Berlin over the question of who will finance the cost increase. When the contracts were signed in 2016, it was said that the federal government would assume 60 percent of the eligible costs, even if there were additional costs. On Thursday, on the other hand, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) pointed out that the responsibility for ensuring the overall financing of the project lies with the Free State of Bavaria.
A statement that Bavaria's Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) did not want to leave. "Of course the federal government is involved in the second regular route!" The Bavarians needed "neither delaying tactics nor flimsy diversionary maneuvers, but finally clarity" on how the route should continue.
