Munich (dpa / lby) – The opposition in the state parliament is increasingly threatening a committee of inquiry into the cost explosion and the years of delays in the second Munich S-Bahn trunk line. At a meeting of the Transport Committee on Monday, several members of the state government and Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) accused the state parliament and the public of insufficient information for months – and therefore set up a committee of inquiry. Sometimes there is apparently no other way, said Inge Aures (SPD). Sebastian Körber (FDP) accused the ministry of “gross disregard” for parliament. Josef Schmid (CSU) countered and accused the opposition, especially the FDP, of a “political spectacle”.
At the committee meeting, Bernreiter and Bahn Infrastructure Board Member Berthold Huber once again presented the now official new cost estimate for the project. The railway is now expecting costs of around seven billion euros and a construction period up to 2035. Bernreiter announced that he would discuss further financing at the Bavarian cabinet meeting in November – the state government was on the second main route, he confirmed. At the same time, Bernreiter reported when there had been which new cost estimates in the past few years.
In particular, the FDP and the Greens accused the Ministry of Transport of having insufficiently or incorrectly answered parliamentary questions on this. Markus Büchler (Greens) criticized that new facts have been on the table in the ministry since the beginning of 2020 “with increasing threat” – but nothing has leaked out. Körber complained that the ministry had answered incorrectly or incorrectly or even “lied” to parliament. “We will create transparency for taxpayers,” he announced. Franz Bergmüller (AfD) vehemently called for a committee of inquiry.
Bernreiter rejected the allegations. “I have no cover-up,” he said. In addition, the minister repeatedly emphasized that the Free State was not the client – that was Deutsche Bahn.
Should there be a committee of inquiry, it would be the third in this legislative period – after the one on the mask affair and one on the National Socialist Underground (NSU). However, the time would be extremely short: the investigative committee would have to have completed its work by the time of the state elections in a year.