In the middle of the evening rush hour, rail traffic between Pasing and Geltendorf came to a standstill on Tuesday due to the storm. Regional trains to Munich had to turn in Geltendorf. Hundreds of commuters were stuck, some of them for hours, because there were far too few buses and taxis in the rail replacement service. The S-Bahn only ran to Buchenau on Wednesday until 12.30 p.m. because the overhead line had to be repaired.
Around 4.30 p.m. the storm moved through the district with lightning and thunder, heavy rain and gale-force gusts. The masses of water first paralyzed the signal systems in the area of the Leienfelsstraße stop in Munich, then several trees fell on overhead lines and tracks near Grafrath. One line tore off completely. The Grafrath and Kottgeisierung fire brigades took passengers from a train that was stuck. Nobody got hurt. Then the logs were cleared from the tracks. The damage to the overhead line could not be repaired that easily.
At least one track could be put back into operation at 4.30 a.m., but it remained reserved for regional and long-distance traffic. In order to repair the broken strand on the second track, heavy equipment and special vehicles had to move in, said a spokesman for the railway. In such cases the booms of the masts have to be checked and the lines have to be realigned to the centimeter.
Meanwhile, the passengers were stuck in the train stations. In Fürstenfeldbruck the announcement rang out regularly that a replacement rail service was available, which turned out to be misleading. It was only around 6.45 p.m. that the first bus, already fully occupied, appeared, heading towards Pasing. Some commuters were picked up by relatives, others tried to get around by bus or carpooled to share the money for one of the few taxis. Many had to wait.
The press spokesman for the railway confirmed that initially only one bus and 30 large-capacity taxis were available. Around 7.30 p.m., two buses and 40 taxis were in use. “We cannot offer a 100 percent replacement. Such a storm is also a challenge for bus companies to find vehicles and drivers quickly,” he said. As for the poor communication, the press spokesman said that the railway had no information about where the vehicles of the rail replacement service are. As for the sometimes irritating information on the various apps, he explained that the information that is stored had to be entered “by hand”.
According to the railway, there were hardly any disruptions on the two other S-Bahn lines in the district, at most minor delays on the S 3 to Mammendorf. The S 8 on the way to and from Germering until 6.30 p.m. was a bit out of step.
The fire brigades reported flooded streets and cellars as well as fallen trees and a lightning strike. In Groebenzell, the fire brigade cleared a treetop in Maistraße as well as fallen trees from the railway path and the footpath in Ammerseestraße. In the Hainbuchenweg a chestnut was uprooted by the wind, but was safely leaning against a house, so that the removal could be left to a specialist company. In the railway underpass, leaves had to be removed from the drains so that the water could flow away. 21 of the 52 weirs in the district were in action, reported district fire chief Ric Unteutsch.