The new locomotives of the Breisgau S-Bahn have been running at the Kaiserstuhl since December 2019. The modern, electric trains run every 30 minutes on the route between Gottenheim and Endingen and have been causing anger among the population ever since.
In addition to punctuality problems, complaints from neighbors about increased noise pollution increased.
The signal horns of the new vehicles comply with new EU standards and are therefore louder – just like the warning tones that sound before the doors are closed. The most unpleasant increase in noise, however, occurs when driving in the numerous curves of the Kaiserstuhl route. Due to the design of the bogies, there is often friction between the wheel and the rail in the curves. This leads to unpleasant squeaking noises.
The mayors of the communities along the route turned to the operators of the Breisgau S-Bahn to do something about the noise pollution.
Today in Endingen, member of the Bundestag, Peter Weiß, found out about the status of the negotiations after numerous citizens had turned to him about the noise.
“After the mayors of the Kaiserstuhl communities had turned to the railway individually without success because of the noise, we got together to increase the pressure on the operators of the S-Bahn,” reported the mayor of Riegel, Daniel Kietz.
“This enabled us to set up a round table in which not only the municipalities but also representatives of DB-Regio, DB-Netze der SWEG and the regional association for regional transport Freiburg (ZRF) took part,” added Endingen’s Mayor Tobias Metz.
It was found that the design of the bogies of the new vehicles is responsible for the noise in the curves. The rigidly mounted axles cause the friction that leads to noise.
It is fatal that these experiences were made years ago with the Münstertalbahn. Nevertheless, the country ordered these vehicles with the bogies. The noise problem was also unsuccessfully pointed out during the planning approval.
The round table identified a stationary rail head conditioning system as the most short-term solution, which is to be installed on the affected sections of the route. A change of the bogies had been rejected, said the two mayors.
“These solutions are incomprehensible to me,” explained Peter Weiß. On the one hand, they caused additional running costs, on the other hand, these measures were not future-oriented, noted the member of the Bundestag. He called for solutions with a future perspective.
“The Breisgau S-Bahn has been producing negative headlines for years,” said Weiß. So the traffic turnaround cannot reasonably be argued against the citizens.
Mayor Metz reported that the citizens’ initiative, the Kaiserstuhlbahn interest group, is calling for vehicles with steerable axles to be allowed to run over the Kaiserstuhlbahn on a trial basis in order to check whether the noise problem can be improved.
The status of the negotiations is that a schedule for the noise protection measures will be available by the end of November, said Mayor Kietz.
That is how long one has to wait and hope that the affected sections of the route will be equipped with the noise-preventing systems as soon as possible.
This is urgently necessary, confirmed Peter Weiß, who had personally convinced himself in advance of the unacceptability of the noise pollution at various locations.
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