Construction sites, delays, canceled trains, closed routes: the CSU and the state government prefer to use the car. Söder could actually leave the Ministry of Transport to Audi and BMW.
This figure alone documents how old Bavaria’s rail network is. Only about 50 percent of the railway lines are electrified. In many parts of the country, for example in large parts of the Allgäu, diesel trains are still on the road. To put it mildly, that’s roughly the same as if only vintage cars were allowed to drive on half of Bavaria’s roads. Then there are the frequent construction sites, because the rail network has to be renovated in many places; and numerous single track routes. Just imagine if Bavaria’s new transport minister, Christian Bernreiter, would expect this from drivers. Single lane roads with passing points every kilometer. Bernreiter could resign immediately.
The problems with the railways are not Bernreiter’s fault, he has only been in office for a short time. But his party, the CSU, is to blame for the lack of traffic turnaround. It has been known for decades that large parts of the rail network urgently need to be renovated, that the railways are not competitive with construction sites, delays, train cancellations and closed routes. But the CSU, as the governing party in Bavaria and in the federal government, where it recently appointed Alexander Dobrindt and Andreas Scheuer as Minister of Transport twice, only patched things up on the railroad. And continued to give priority to the road.
This can be seen, for example, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where a first, expensive, four-lane car tunnel was recently inaugurated, and three more tunnels are to follow. Everything was set in motion by the then Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, one of the leading CSU politicians. The single-track railway line to Garmisch-Partenkirchen runs right next to it. One lane for trains, four lanes for cars – it will not be possible to get more traffic onto the rails and do more to protect the climate.
A course correction is not foreseeable in the CSU. Not even under party and government leader Markus Söder. Actually, Söder could alternately leave the office of Minister of Transport to the two large car companies in Bavaria, Audi and BMW. In any case, this would not have changed much in the results so far. Bernreiter’s scope to change that, if he would want it at all, is likely to be limited.