At the end of the day, a computer model should show: What measures can be taken to protect the bobsleigh run in Schönau am Königssee, which was largely destroyed in a storm last July, from renewed landslides? The district of Berchtesgadener Land, as the owner of the facility, now wants to look for a general planner for the reconstruction of the oldest artificial ice rink in the world. According to the Traunstein Water Management Office, the process can take a long time because there is an EU-wide tender.
More months will pass before everything is measured, inspected, calculated using a simulation and provided with a cost estimate. Whether and, if so, how the famous railway will be rebuilt will only be decided afterwards. “We need a holistic view of the environment,” says Christian Schieder, who heads the torrents department at the Water Management Office. Schieder is reluctant to make his own assessments of the major project, which has meanwhile become a political issue. The technical surveys are in the hands of the general planner. There are fundamentally different ways to protect yourself against the dangers that every torrent entails.
All data and on-site surveys are to be incorporated into a computer-aided model that calculates several scenarios. In the end, the district will decide on a preferred variant, which will then also be presented to the public. According to an earlier decision by the district council, the district does not want to spend its own money on the reconstruction of the artificial ice rink. The Free State has so far pledged 53.5 million euros from the reconstruction aid fund after the flood disaster last year.
Schieder estimates that the 2021 storm caused around 3,000 cubic meters of material to fall from the mountain. The Piding river management office has meanwhile rehabilitated the river bed and removed debris. The German bobsleigh and sled association would like to hold training sessions on the unscathed lower area of the track before the end of this year. There had already been a trial run there in January.