[ad_1]
The framework agreement for the extension of the existing route in the north of the city of Salzburg and the extension to the south was signed this Monday at the Ministry of Transport. For the first time in more than ten years, there is also federal funding for the local Pinzgauer railway.
If four state and local politicians travel to the Ministry of Transportation for a formal event in the midst of a pandemic, the occasion must be extraordinary. For the host, Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens), the contract between federal, state and municipal for the expansion and extension of the local railway, which was signed on Monday, is nothing less than a “historical package” by which the federal government assumes 50 percent of the costs. take the control.
Governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP), who had come to the Ministry in Vienna with his deputy Heinrich Schellhorn (Greens), Regional Transport Councilor Stefan Schnöll and Salzburg Deputy Mayor Barbara Unterkofler (both ÖVP), calmed down. “The word historical is always a bit worn. But it is an agreement for a project that will be in effect for many decades.” He sees the possibility of a “wonderful network of cities and fields.” At peak times, after the expansion of the north branch, the local railway could run every seven and a half minutes. “They are real decisions,” Haslauer said, “to be able to present an alternative to the car.”
More than 600 million euros for the expansion
The key figure: In the coming years, more than 880 million euros will be allocated to the expansion of the railway infrastructure. Most of it, with more than 600 million euros, is eaten up by the underground extension of the local railway initially to Mirabellplatz, then to Alpenstraße and above ground to Hallein. The existing local line in the north of the city will be extended between 2021 and 2025. For this, around 270 million euros are budgeted. This includes the modernization of the security system, the construction of a new depot in Bergheim and Anthering, the new construction of the Bürmoos, Salzburg-Itzling and Bergheim stations, as well as double-track expansions to allow a faster cycle on the route. . Furthermore, for the first time in more than ten years, the federal government is making financial investments in the local Pinzgauer railway: a total of eight million euros will flow towards the route between Zell am See and Krimml by 2025.
Schnöll: the train to the exhibition center should come
The agreement now reached initially covers the planning of the extension to Mirabellplatz and the rail connection to the fairgrounds. It is still open if the latter will come. State transport councilor Stefan Schnöll (ÖVP) sees the connection in any case as the potential to intercept at least part of individual tourist traffic. You are assuming an implementation. “The exhibition runway is very important in my priority.”
