The accident, which was to completely disrupt rail traffic in Bavaria and all of Germany, happened right at the beginning of the Whitsun holidays. Shortly after midday on June 3, all five wagons and the locomotive of the regional train bound for Munich jump off the rails near the Garmisch-Partenkirchner district of Burgrain, two wagons tip over completely and slide off the railway embankment, the end of another double-decker wagon digs into the end several meters further down at the foot of the embankment into the bed of the Katzenbach, a narrow ditch between the single-track railway line and the federal highway 2. How many people are buried under the wagons is unclear in the first few hours. In the end, the authorities count five dead and 68 injured.
The train accident in Burgrain was the prelude to a rail summer that the Free State has seldom experienced: with more route closures and construction sites than usual, with countless delays and train cancellations, with special tickets and with railway companies operating at the limits of their resilience. The problems that have been accompanying Bavaria’s tracks for years have seldom been as visible as in 2022. And seldom have there been so many promises that everything should get better in the future.
The problems in the Werdenfelser network were particularly great, even away from the actual accident site. As a direct consequence of the train accident, DB Netz, which is responsible for infrastructure measures, announced a “general renovation” of the track systems. But first, for safety reasons, they set up numerous slow-moving sections around Murnau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which trains were only allowed to pass at reduced speeds. Some sections of the route were also completely closed. Something like this fuels the frustration of commuters even in more normal times. But this time there was bad communication. In the affected towns, mayors complained that they were only informed sporadically, if at all, about closures and construction site plans.
On other routes, railway companies also struggled at times to be able to travel from station to station at all. Time and again speed restrictions and construction work that were scheduled at short notice messed everything up. And when the trains ran more or less as expected, they were sometimes overcrowded. The nine-euro ticket, valid from the beginning of June to the end of August, made the dream of regional transport come true for everyone, across all tariff zones. But what the federal government had intended as a relief for commuters also turned out to be a burden. Especially on the excursion routes, there was sometimes such a large rush on the weekends that passengers had to stay behind on the platform. This, in turn, led to new frustration – which train attendants and conductors felt again and again. They already had enough to do to check the corona-related mask specifications. Or to call the police if that’s why fists were flying.
Investigations into the cause of the accident continue
The mask requirement in Bavarian local transport is now history. The other problems remain. Industry representatives point out that too little money has flowed into rail for years. Now the plans and the need for investment were backlogged, in the renovation of old routes as well as in the construction of new ones. But who pays how much for it in the end has always been a source of disputes between the federal and state governments. After all, there has been a kind of concept for Bavaria since December: The state government’s “public transport strategy” describes less the timetable to better times than the construction sites on the way there. Among other things, more vehicles, better frequencies, new tariffs and more efficient routes should bring twice as many passengers to local transport by 2030. What can actually be implemented will also depend on how much money is left after the pandemic and energy crisis.
The risk is therefore great that many things will remain as they are for the time being. And anyway, little goes by rail in this country. The tracks towards the Czech Republic are an example of this: A better rail connection to the neighboring country has been in the pipeline since the 1990s, but the Bavarian side is not finished yet. The planning for the northern access to the Brenner Base Tunnel, which was decided years ago, is also likely to drag on for a while. The fronts between Deutsche Bahn on the one hand and the local residents on the other are too hardened here for an early groundbreaking ceremony to appear realistic.
Bavaria’s rail travelers will have to be patient for a long time to come. Also in the new year. Construction work is specifically planned on the Nuremberg – Würzburg route, the section from Rottendorf to Fürth is to be closed for months for overhead line work. Further restrictions await between Bamberg and Forchheim and of course in the Werdenfelser network. And the investigation into the train accident in Burgrain will continue. Because problems on the rails and sleepers are considered the most likely cause of the accident – but this has not yet been officially determined. What cost the lives of five people that June day is still unclear.