When it comes to the 1.3 kilometer extension of the U 6, Bavaria’s State Minister for Science and Art Bernd Sibler (CSU) likes to talk about the “science train” which is expected to connect the campus in Martinsried with the state capital by 2025. For the planned extension of the U 5 from Neuperlach-Süd via Neubiberg and Ottobrunn to the Ludwig-Bölkow-Campus, Sibler has not yet created a term of his own, but perhaps “rocket train” would fit, after all, according to the will of the district politicians with the route too the new Faculty of Aerospace at the Technical University will be connected to the subway network.
So far, however, the project has been hampered by a decisive obstacle: According to forecasts, the benefit-cost ratio is not yet sufficient to be able to skim off the necessary financial support from the federal government and the Free State. This could change now, as District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU) said in the most recent meeting of the district council. Because so far, according to the district administrator, the methodology, which is decisive for the benefit-cost factor, has not taken into account, for example, “environmental impacts”. The federal government is therefore revising the calculation basis, which, according to the District Office, makes it difficult, especially for infrastructure projects in metropolitan areas, due to the prevailing density of existing local public transport offers, to skip the factor 1 in the cost-benefit ratio in order to slip into eligibility.
With the new directive, however, according to the district administrator, there is hope that the extension of the U 5 could be recognized as a privileged transport project. And not only that, Göbel assumes that the district’s share of funding could fall significantly: “I have the hope that our share will be below ten percent.” Göbel even demands that the “Martinsried model” be used for the U 5: 95 percent of the costs for the expansion into the Würmtal, which are now estimated at around 130 million euros, are borne by the Free State, while the remainder is partly shared by the district and the community Planegg.
However, the extension of the U 5 to the Ludwig-Bölkow-Campus will incur significantly higher costs for the district and the municipalities involved. The two favored variants – under the center of Ottobrunn and a little further to the west of the municipality – are estimated at construction costs of more than 500 million euros each; both are a little over five kilometers long and mostly run underground.
Göbel once again described the extension of the U 5 via Neubiberg and Ottobrunn as the “backbone” of the traffic development not only of the new university location, but also of the expansion of the University of the Federal Armed Forces and new industrial areas around the Ludwig Bölkow campus. However, Göbel made it clear that the district should not wait for the subway to be built, and that “a viable interim solution” and “solutions beyond the campus” would be needed for the interim period – even in the event that the subway was not approved . Therefore, the district council decided by a large majority to also pursue the so-called Bögel transport system, a magnetic levitation train from the manufacturer of the same name. An alternative that Ottobrunn’s mayor Thomas Loderer (CSU) categorically rejects and which he had already called “scrap”.
Further additions for local public transport, which can be implemented as “preliminary operation” in a timely manner, are also to be examined. This also includes a possible trolleybus with its own public transport lane, which could be further developed and adapted even after the subway went into operation. A measure that is urgently needed in the south-eastern district, says the district administrator, because the infrastructure there can no longer absorb any further pollution.