The ecologically oriented Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) is massively defending itself against the Deutsche Bahn (DB) plan to stop the transport of cars on passenger trains from Munich. The group said goodbye to its motorail trains a few years ago, but the private company Train4you still offers a vacation express at Munich’s Ostbahnhof station, which runs between Munich and Hamburg. But because the railway wants to build the new S-Bahn station for the second main line on Friedenstraße, the loading terminal is to give way. The DB does not plan to replace it in Munich or in the immediate vicinity. The advantage of the new location for the S-Bahn station is obvious for the railway: it can build there more easily, as the station would no longer be around 40 meters deep, but only 16 meters.
But the VCD sees it differently and wants to raise objections to the new plans. For the association, the end of the car loading is an “inadmissible interference in the rail infrastructure” https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/. “The intended dismantling of the station infrastructure that is still required represents an alarm signal for us at a time when society is is relying more on the climate-friendly transport mode, “said a resolution published on Monday. To leave the south-east of Germany completely dependent on the car train network is the wrong way to go.
Relocating the terminal to Kempten im Allgäu is no substitute, and DB has to change its pricing policy for the car train terminal. The VCD explains that the fact that it is six times more expensive to use than in Austria cannot be justified.
Car trains are a component – albeit only a small one – for climate-friendly transport in Europe. In the course of the completion of the Brenner Base Tunnel, more attractive opportunities would arise to offer car trains to Italy and thus a sensible alternative to the Brenner motorway, which is hopelessly congested in summer. The VCD suggests, for example, that the track areas at the Ostbahnhof, such as tracks 13 and 14, continue to be used for the handling of motorail trains.
The VCD also criticizes the fact that no bicycle parking spaces are planned at the new station and that Berg-am-Laim-Strasse is no longer passable for tram traffic for 23 weeks due to the construction work. The platforms would also have to be planned differently to enable better transfers.