Going on holiday by car: This is still the preferred way of traveling, especially for families. It’s more relaxed if most of the route can be covered on the motorway without traffic jams and without stress. And this is where car trains come into play.
Deutsche Bahn (DB) itself stopped operating these trains eight years ago because it did not consider the service to be profitable. That’s why she wanted to demolish the loading terminal at Ostbahnhof without replacing it because the new S-Bahn station on the second main line is to be built there. Building permits have recently been issued for the eastern section.
But the private company Train4you still operates a car train connection from Munich to Hamburg. That’s why the DB had to create a replacement for the loading terminal – not entirely voluntarily. A new terminal is now being built at the former Südbahnhof on Thalkirchner Straße.
The symbolic groundbreaking took place on Wednesday with Bavaria’s Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU), Bavaria’s railway boss Klaus-Dieter Josel and the project manager of the second main line Kai Kruschinski. After a long search, a good location has now been found, said Josel. Kempten, Grafing, Geltendorf and Rosenheim were also up for debate.
But these alternatives were ruled out. The Sendling location was ultimately chosen because the environmental impact of the car train system is lowest on the railway’s own site.
The Federal Railway Authority (EBA) stated that the new system is functionally equivalent to the existing one at the Ostbahnhof despite some differences. The EBA is responsible for approving railway facilities.
Two tracks are intended for the car trains, one for loading and unloading the car wagons, one for handling passenger traffic. Entrance and exit to the terminal should take place from the existing entrance at the corner of Thalkichnerstrasse and Oberländerstrasse. Travelers from outside could get there, for example from the south, via the A995 or the A95 via the Mittlerer Ring, Schäftlarn-, Lagerhaus- and Thalkirchner Straße.
There’s still a lot to do: The track system at Südbahnhof, which is scheduled to be auto-fit by mid-2025.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
There are 16 trains listed in the summer timetable for car trains this year. With an average capacity utilization of 60 cars according to Train4you, that would be 960 vehicles per season from Munich, and the same number would arrive here from Hamburg.
The planning approval assumes a maximum number of 4,000 cars and motorcycles per year. That sounds like a lot, but according to the planning approval it isn’t. “Compared to the number of vehicles on the road network and the number of travelers on long-distance transport, these are negligibly small proportions,” it says there. The EBA also considers the burden on the roads through which access is to be tolerable.
The new terminal is expected to cost 20 million euros. It is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2025. DB doesn’t want to afford any delays this time. According to the planning approval decision, the old facility at the Ostbahnhof can only be demolished when the new car loading facility is ready for use. This in turn is the basis for the start of construction of the new S-Bahn station. The DB can now finally build along the entire second main line, said Josel.
The DB expects the main line to be completed by 2035, while Minister Bernreiter expects it to be closer to 2037. On Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved a draft contract that is to be signed this spring. This stipulates, among other things, that the DB should increasingly contribute to the costs of the second main route from its own resources if there are further delays. The Bavarian Ministry of Transport has not yet commented on any details. Otherwise, the federal government covers 60 percent of the eligible costs, the Free State contributes 40 percent, the DB has so far contributed 155 million euros and the city of Munich 150 million euros.
Contracts for construction work on the eastern section of the main line are scheduled to begin this year. Meanwhile, work continues in the other sections. The first work on the underground station and the future U9 subway station has now begun in the main station’s track hall.
At Marienhof this year, the excavation will reach the platform depth of 40 meters, and a first rescue tunnel will be built in Arnulfpark this year. Tunneling for the S-Bahn tubes is scheduled to start in 2026 at the western portal at the Donnersberger Bridge. In 2027, the tunneling machines are scheduled to drill on Friedenstraße in the direction of Marienhof, provided that the excavation pit for the S-Bahn stop there has been completed.