City and state politicians react with dismay and annoyance to the developments on the second main S-Bahn line in Munich. They are demanding consequences, some even stopping the project.
City politicians are reacting with anger and frustration to the explosion in costs and the delay in construction of the second S-Bahn trunk line. The head of the Munich CSU and Bavarian Minister of Justice Georg Eisenreich sees the federal government as “clearly obliged to commit to this ecologically important future project”. The second main route is not a “nice to have”, but a “must”. The CSU parliamentary group leader in the city council, Manuel Pretzl, asked Deutsche Bahn to immediately send a representative to the city council to clarify the matter.
The second main route is now expected to cost 7.2 billion – 3.4 billion more than Deutsche Bahn had previously confirmed. And the construction should take nine years longer, until 2037. “This planning disaster is a cheek,” said Bavaria’s Science Minister Markus Blume (CSU). “The federal government’s ignorance of the interests of Bavaria and Munich is unacceptable.”
“The OB must pull the emergency brake”
The Munich FDP member of the Bundestag Daniel Föst sees those responsible in all other places than in the Federal Ministry of the FDP. “For years, the city of Munich and the Free State have been planning the construction of the second trunk line together with Deutsche Bahn.” From the announcements and programs of the Bavarian Ministry of Transport to expand the rail network in Munich, “little viable remains”. His party colleagues on the city council are demanding that construction be stopped. “We have better projects that are cheaper and all in all shift significantly more traffic to public transport,” it said. “The OB has to pull the emergency brake and create clear facts,” said City Councilor Fritz Roth.
The Greens in the city council find the new numbers “unacceptable,” said parliamentary group leader Mona Fuchs. The federal, state and Deutsche Bahn are guilty of “answers and clarification”. The short-term cancellation of the crisis summit by Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) for this Thursday caused everyone to shake their heads, said Fuchs. The SPD traffic expert on the city council, Nik Gradl, called for an immediate top-level discussion with Wissing and Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and already knows the necessary result: “The FDP Minister of Transport must increase the funds for the expansion of local transport once to 15 billion so that the second trunk route can be completed.”