The transport committee of the Stuttgart Region Association discussed the results of a study on possible operating variants of the Schusterbahn for the period up to the commissioning of Stuttgart 21 on Wednesday. The decision as to whether the offer will be expanded in terms of time and space will probably be made in July.
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One would like to discuss this again with regard to all challenges and in connection with further planned transport measures. Nevertheless, as a precautionary measure, the hourly service between Untertürkheim and Kornwestheim will be registered for the future timetable from the timetable change in December, the committee decided.
A week ago, the regional parliamentary groups of Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen, SPD, FDP and Die Linke / Pirat applied, among other things, to introduce a full-day hourly service between Untertürkheim and Kornwestheim from the timetable change in December. This would be associated with an estimated cost of 1.8 million euros and an additional 500 new passengers per day. A total of around 1,500 passengers could then be en route on the route, reported traffic director Dr. Jürgen Wurmthaler. In addition, the parliamentary groups applied for a year later to expand the traffic with a full-day hourly service from Bietigheim-Bissingen via Ludwigsburg to Esslingen. Around 4.6 million would be due for this, and around 2,500 more passengers are expected. The total number of passengers by 2030 could then be around 6,000 to 7,000 passengers a day.
As early as May 2020, an intergroup application aimed at a short-term expansion of the offer between Bietigheim-Bissingen and Plochingen as S-Bahn line S11. The Stuttgart Region Association, as the responsible body for the Schusterbahn, had DB Netz examine options for half-hourly intervals on this route under the current infrastructural framework for the period between 2023 and 2025. Even before that, the regional assembly expressed a wish several times to expand the offer in terms of time and space. Years ago, however, she decided to postpone the project in favor of a quarter-hourly service for the S-Bahn – this has been fully implemented on working days since last December. Before making further decisions, they wanted to wait for the timetable concept and the development of transport demand after the S21 went into operation. Before the corona pandemic, the Schusterbahn recently recorded around 500 passengers a day.
Results of the operating program study
In the context of the existing transport contract, additional trips for a full-day hourly service between Kornwestheim and Untertürkheim or, alternatively, between Bietigheim-Bissingen and Esslingen can be booked at short notice. For an hourly 7-day offer, however, there is no adequate window of time for maintenance work on the only vehicle currently serving the route. Any additional offer on the Schusterbahn in terms of routing and frequency requires, above all, the expansion of the rail infrastructure, but also additional vehicles and a new tender for the additional traffic.
In addition, an operational simulation for the heavily traveled route is recommended. Because there is currently strong competition on the entire route, especially with freight transport, but also with long-distance and regional transport. This makes every half hour from Bietigheim-Bissingen to Plochingen impossible, use of the S-Bahn tracks is excluded due to the different heights of getting on and off the platforms.
Infrastructural basically feasible – albeit conflicting with the rest of the train traffic on the route – would be an hourly service from Bietigheim-Bissingen to Esslingen or a half-hourly service from Ludwigsburg to Untertürkheim, but both only with additional vehicles. And if the Schusterbahn runs to Ludwigsburg or beyond, the trains in the south direction would have to bypass Kornwestheim station via the marshalling yard.
Press release VRS
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