The trains are traveling with fewer wagons, some connections are completely canceled: Commuters have to “push their way onto the train like sardines every day,” criticizes state parliamentarian Johannes Becher (Green Party), who himself regularly travels from Moosburg to Munich with the train train is running. Since the problem has existed for months and there is no sign of improvement, he has written a request to the state government. For example, he wants to know what short-term measures are planned to quickly get the situation of the missing wagons under control.
Breakdowns and delays on the railway line between Moosburg, Freising and Munich have been part of everyday life for commuters for years and are a major annoyance. The route is completely overloaded with rail, S-Bahn and freight traffic. It may be years before at least parts of the route are expanded to four lanes.
Becher knows the situation from his own experience. On a normal weekday before the start of the school holidays, departure from Moosburg towards Munich at 7.19 a.m. Instead of three car sets, the train only has one. “In Moosburg, everyone just got in and stood shoulder to shoulder – and that in a commuter train,” he says. Traveling like this for 40 minutes “doesn’t make you want to take the train every day.” There were also complete cancellations of trains. This is not an attractive offer, so he now wants to put pressure on him with his request.
According to his own statement, Becher had already checked with the Bavarian Railway Company (BEG) in December 2022. The answer at the time: The BEG was aware of the “tense vehicle situation”, reports the deputy. DB Regio, which operates the affected route on behalf of the BEG, then announced that vehicle availability would gradually relax in the coming weeks due to new maintenance capacities. But that was evidently not the case.
Both S-Bahn and train users are suffering from the situation on the route to and from Munich. On no other S-Bahn line are there as many delays as on the S 1. There is a separate group on Facebook called “My S 1 isn’t coming”. Even train drivers vent their anger there from time to time. A commuter from Freising, for example, asked there in July: “Is my observation correct that for a few weeks now disproportionately often and disproportionately many cars have been missing from the trains? If only three instead of actually five cars are on the road, the space available is of course far too small, which is no fun at these temperatures.” Other train drivers shared this observation and reported that complaints came to nothing because you only received standard answers.
“There has to be an improvement at some point”
At least as far as the train is concerned, the current problems should not exist at all. According to Becher, DB Regio has made a commitment to the BEG to serve the respective route with a certain number of wagons. He therefore calls on the BEG to comply with the contractual agreements with DB Regio and to provide appropriate replacements for defective or missing wagons. He understands a lot, says the Green MP, “but if the situation has been inadequate for months, then at some point there has to be an improvement and the number of seats available should be back to normal”.
Among other things, he now wants to know from the state government how often trains were canceled in 2023 and to what extent wagons were missing. He also asks whether other routes were affected to a similar extent, how many of the regional trains between Munich and Landshut were not punctual and whether, at least during the peak rush hours, it can be expected that a contractual condition will be restored quickly.
He also demands answers as to how the 15-minute cycle for the S-Bahn line 1 by 2030, which Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) brought up, should be implemented without increasing track capacity and whether the train capacity should be with the existing ones Tracks, especially between Neufahrn and Moosach, could be increased by structural measures.