Local traffic – With the Ottobahn on the Autobahn – District of Munich

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In Taufkirchen, it is not only the mayor who reacts very sensitively when the easternmost part of his community beyond the A8 is mistakenly assigned to the neighbor Ottobrunn. Ullrich Sander (independent) emphasizes time and again that the Ludwig Bölkow campus there is in Taufkirchen – regardless of any statements to the contrary by high-ranking state politicians when it comes to the new Faculty of Aerospace at the Technical University of Munich (TU) goes.

Perhaps it is due to this special note in the relationships between the two neighboring towns that Mattika Heinrich clarifies at the beginning of his presentation on Tuesday evening in the building committee of the Taufkirchen municipal council why he christened his company and its product “Ottobahn” – namely not by reference to Ottobrunn. Rather, the name goes back to Otto I, Bavaria’s first duke from the Wittelsbach family. Because, as Heinrich puts it: “We want to build a new mode of transport – from Bavaria for the world.”

What he means by this is a rail system with gondolas at a height of five to ten meters – electrically operated, autonomous and controlled by artificial intelligence. The start-up, founded in 2019, wants to bring this revolutionary means of transport to series production readiness over the next two years: in Taufkirchen. Because there, on the area between the A 8 and Ludwig-Bölkow-Allee, a nearly 900 meter long test track for the Ottobahn is to be built. The building committee unanimously approved the associated building application.

Both the municipal council members and the two managing directors Mattika Heinrich and Marc Schindler hope that the test track will later become part of the first regular Ottobahn connection ever – between the TU campus in Taufkirchen and Karl-Preis-Platz in Munich, whereby the Rails should run above the median of the A 8.

Such an expansion of the plant in the future is “conceivable and desirable”, says Marc Schindler when asked by Peter Hofbauer (Free Voters). The new campus in Taufkirchen and Ottobrunn is actually supposed to be accessed via an extension of the U 5 from Neuperlach-Süd. But even if this were to be decided, “it would take ten to fifteen years for the underground to be finished,” says Hofbauer. “And that’s just too long for me.”

The Ottobahn, on the other hand, assures the managing directors, could be built much faster – and cheaper. According to Mattika Heinrich, the 900 meter long test track, supported by 42 spun concrete pylons, will cost around five million euros. For comparison: ten to twenty times as much is estimated for one kilometer of the underground.

In any case, the members of the building committee were very impressed by the lift up and the high-flying plans of their makers. In addition to approving the building application, at the request of Peter Hofbauer, they decided to recommend a feasibility study to the district council’s mobility committee for a connection between the Ludwig-Bölkow-Campus and the Ottobahn. Marc Schindler estimates that their gondolas could zoom over the A8 at a good 100 kilometers per hour on the route there.

When asked about the capacity, he speaks of 6,000 to 8,000 trips – per hour. “It will sound incredible to you, but we really mean it,” assures his colleague Mattika Heinrich. According to him, an Ottobahn gondola will require a tenth of the energy of an electric car. This electricity is to be generated along the route – by solar cells attached to the green track.

The gondolas will one day transport individuals and groups, but also freight. A prototype is currently doing its laps on a 36-meter-long course in the start-up’s offices in Obersendling. The next step towards series production will be a test track on Ludwig-Bölkow-Allee. Mayor Sander emphasizes that he is “very proud” that the system is being built in Taufkirchen. “And maybe this innovative technology will also help us relieve the traffic that we urgently need in the south of Munich.”

Mattika Heinrich is convinced that what the Ottobahn will definitely bring to the community will be a lot of attention. “We have inquiries from New York to Asia. This route will broadcast, people will come and report on it.” And then, of course, they would explain to all those interested, “said Heinrich,” that the route is in Taufkirchen – and not in Ottobrunn. “

In Ottobrunn itself, those responsible – and especially Mayor Thomas Loderer (CSU) – rely fully on the subway, which the district council also favors. A route from Neuperlach-Süd via Neubiberg and the center of Ottobrunn to the Ludwig-Bölkow-Campus. Other variants have also been discussed in the recent past: An extension of the U 5 along the A 8, for example, which, however, could largely have been implemented as a cable car. However, traffic planners certified this variant as having too few passengers. Most recently, the so-called Transport System Bögl (TBS), a magnetic levitation train from the manufacturer of the same name, was also discussed in the district council.

In April, he presented his own feasibility study for the route from Neuperlach-Süd to Ottobrunn and the Ludwig-Bölkow-Campus. According to this, a magnetic levitation train would be significantly cheaper than a subway in terms of construction costs, the benefit-cost ratio is strikingly better and the forecast passenger numbers are far higher.

However, the district councils did not really want to believe these figures. The magnetic levitation train is therefore likely to be off the table, as is a tram, which was also discussed for a long time as a possible alternative to extending the U 5. But Loderer always refuses a tram with the reference that there is no space for it in the center of Ottobrunn.

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