Lufthansa wants Express S-Bahn by 2025
An express train to the airport – that’s a long-cherished wish of many a politician. Now Lufthansa is also getting involved in the debate and wants an express S-Bahn by 2025.
Munich – Munich Airport is celebrating its 30th birthday today. But there have been discussions about the connection for as long as the airport. These are now fueled – by Lufthansa.
“If nothing happens here, Munich will soon be in trouble from an ecological and economic point of view,” says Stefan Kreuzpaintner, who is responsible for the Munich hub at Lufthansa, in an interview with the tourism media house FVW. Lufthansa is the largest airline customer and co-operator of Terminal 2 at the airport.
Munich Airport: The S-Bahn ride from the city center to the airport takes 40 minutes
The S1 and S8 are currently driving from Munich city center to Erdinger Moos. A ride usually takes no less than 40 minutes. There are also express buses. Kreuzpaintner criticizes that there is only one national connection and no long-distance train connection in addition to the S-Bahn. “We need a significant improvement in the connection of the Bavarian area and also from Austria,” he demands.
An express S-Bahn is to be built by 2025. That is the minimum requirement. “We need a national connection by 2027/28. And we need a long-distance train connection by the mid-2030s. The faster the better.”
Munich Airport: Better connections also depend on the second trunk route
The Free State, as the main owner of the airport, recently published a four-stage plan intended to improve the connection. However, an express S-Bahn in particular depends on when the second main line will be completed. Further improvements to the connection are still a long way off, such as the four-track expansion of the railway line between Daglfing and Johanneskirchen. In the billion-euro project, it is still unclear how the tracks should run.
In 2019, Munich Airport was still one of the ten busiest aviation hubs in Europe with around 48 million passengers. And the debate about better connections to Franz-Josef-Strauß Airport is already historic. Between 2000 and 2008, the plan had been pursued to build an approximately 37-kilometer route on which essentially a ten-minute interval with Transrapid vehicles should be offered.