When traffic rolls through your living room at home, it is usually a metaphor for annoying noise pollution. In Kirchseeon, however, this scenario could now become a reality: as part of the planning for the access to the Brenner base tunnel, Deutsche Bahn wants to build an 8.5 meter high “flyover structure” in the south of the market town. What represents a contribution to nature conservation for the rail company will be a major burden for the immediate residents. An information evening on Thursday, May 19, in the ATSV hall in Kirchseeon will deal with this construction, but also with other open questions relating to the northern approach to the Brenner Pass.
The market community and the local Bahnlärm working group, which – as the name suggests – repeatedly refers to the volume to be expected when the trains roll from the Austrian border in the direction of Munich after the route has been completed, have invited to this. The exact route has not yet been determined, but it is clear that the rails will also run through the southern district of Ebersberg. From Grafing, the existing tracks are to be used according to the current planning status.
There are repeated protests against the new construction section in the south of the district.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
However, this raises several questions for the Kirchseeon working group. “For us it is very difficult to imagine how four fully developed tracks from Kirchseeon to Munich can be run over just two tracks without further restrictions,” write the initiators in the announcement for the information event. One sees the planned block densification – the working group assumes a doubling of the number of trains – the regulated S-Bahn traffic in danger.
But the noise also worries the critics of the mega-project. “Kirchseeon is already encircled between the B304 and the rail track,” says the working group. According to current forecasts, around 428 freight and passenger trains per day can be expected after the construction of the northern access to the Brenner Pass, i.e. theoretically one train every 3.5 minutes. “As soon as one train disappears at the noise horizon, the next train is already approaching. This will be a constant burden, and S-Bahn trains are not even included here,” say the initiators.
In Kirchseeon, noise pollution is already at a level that is harmful to health
In fact, the people of Kirchseeon are already plagued by train traffic, as a current noise report commissioned by the local council shows. Accordingly, the noise level in the residential areas between the rails and the main road sometimes even reaches a level that is harmful to health. The working group has therefore been calling for a concession from the railways in terms of noise protection for a long time. So far, however, there have been no commitments, since no new tracks would be laid in the Kirchseeon area. “We should not accept this unequal treatment,” says the working group’s letter.
The “overthrow structure” mentioned at the beginning is also a thorn in the side of this – a section in the south of Osterseeon around two kilometers long with two ramps. The trains will pass about 400 meters of this at a dizzy height of 8.5 meters. The background to this planning, in addition to the aspect of less surface sealing, is also better timing of rail traffic, which can run on two floors, so to speak, one above the other. The working group criticizes that this building has the overall height of a two-story residential building, and the resulting noise emissions will also have an impact on large areas of the site.
It is therefore clear to the members of the working group that Deutsche Bahn’s plans are not simply to be accepted. At the information event, steps should therefore also be discussed as to how citizens can defend themselves against the project. Although the Brenner Base Tunnel is not expected to open until 2030, the working group says that fundamental decisions will have to be made in the coming months – “with a significant impact on the quality of life and health for us and future generations”.
Information event on the northern approach to the Brenner Pass on Thursday, May 19, at 7 p.m. in the ATSV hall in Kirchseeon, Sportplatzweg 7.