Vienna connecting line

Course set for public transport axis, now the clock is ticking

In the final stage of the negotiations, ÖBB made further improvements to some details. Speising station, for example, is to get a larger elevator.(Bild: ÖBB / Feuchtenhofer)

This is probably the last time that ÖBB and opponents of the expansion of the connecting line to Vienna's new public transport axis - the S-Bahn ring - have crossed swords in court. Whether and when construction can begin, however, now depends on the speed with which the authorities act.

ÖBB is showing confidence after the final negotiation marathon in the struggle for the connecting line. The thorniest question of whether the whole process should have started from the beginning has apparently finally been taken off the table by the Federal Administrative Court, and ÖBB has made further improvements to other points of contention regarding the expansion of the S80 between Hütteldorf and Meidling.

ÖBB added an additional 200 trees
Instead of 1,100 replacement plantings for uprooted trees, 1,300 are now promised, of which around 1,000 are along or near the route, 50 as XL trees. The additional ecological compensation area in the 22nd district is also to be almost a third larger, with an increase of around two hectares. The railroad also tweaked other details once again, for example the Speising station is to have a larger elevator than planned. Above all, however, the court was concerned with evidence down to the last detail, further evidence and the most precise documentation that the railroad had adhered to the planning specifications and sufficiently examined alternatives.

To the extent that ÖBB feels vindicated after the six days of hearings, the project opponents apparently see their chances of winning through the courts dwindling. Although they do not want to "admit defeat yet", they now want to try their luck in the city's petitions committee. The project opponents are also convinced that the forecasts about the impact of the project are based on false assumptions and that the planning represents a "missed opportunity for a flagship project".

It seems that the three-year battle for the new local transport axis for Vienna has thus been de facto decided. Of the total of five kilometers of line, the most controversial are the 900 meters that run through Hietzing in an elevated position and with two new stations. The project is therefore a prerequisite for the long-planned project of a closed S-Bahn ring around Vienna. Now, however, it is not only a question of whether the court actually gives the green light, but also how quickly the verdict is reached. ÖBB confirms this: Clarity is needed by the summer if the start of construction is to hold in the fall.