Munich’s S-Bahn boss Heiko Büttner contradicts the impression that he buried the double-track expansion of the S 7 from Giesing via Ottobrunn to Aying at the beginning of the week in the mobility committee of the Munich district council. “I did not reject the expansion of the S 7,” explains Büttner. “On the contrary: I expressly welcome the great commitment of the Free State in expanding the S-Bahn system.” The S-Bahn boss answered the district committee’s questions on Monday on the subject of “disruptions and deficits in S-Bahn traffic”, pointing out that long planning phases and the expected public protests do not appear realistic for the expansion of the route in the foreseeable future rather, improvements for passengers should be achieved in the short term with faster digitization of the system and also autonomous trains.
Büttner’s remarks had given numerous district councilors the impression that, from the point of view of the Munich S-Bahn, the expansion of the S 7 was done with. Bavaria’s former Transport Minister Kerstin Schreyer from Unterhaching also reacted and said that the expansion should not be shelved because of flimsy arguments. Büttner responded to the criticism with a press release, arguing that every expansion project is good news for S-Bahn users; However, he pointed out that the framework conditions for infrastructure projects mean that planning and implementation periods “unfortunately take a very long time”.
Criticism of Büttner’s attitude also comes from the neighboring district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshaus, where two trains collided on the single-track route of the S 7 near Schäftlarn in February. The waiver of the double-track expansion of the route is unacceptable for the local CSU voting group deputy Martin Bachhuber. “The number of commuters will increase massively in the coming years. Those who do not want to expand the rail network in view of this are consciously accepting the collapse of local public rail transport.” According to Bachhuber, the double-track expansion of the S 7 to Wolfratshausen has been an integral part of the expansion plans for many years. “In the medium to long term, we need the second track to be able to transport people in the boom region of Munich smoothly by rail in the future,” emphasizes the Bad Heilbrunner member of the state parliament.