Bonn central train station Transportation advocacy group sees danger
Bonn · Passing trains should slow down as they go through Bonn central train station. This is the message from a transportation advocacy group. But German Rail says it is standing by its safety concept.
As chair of Verkehrsclub, a transportation advocacy group in Bonn/Rhine-Sieg, Wolfgang Groß went to tracks two and three at Bonn’s Hauptbahnhof (central train station) to observe the situation. He sees the through trains, those not stopping in Bonn, as posing a danger to travelers. Especially when there are big crowds and passengers are standing too close to the edge of the platform, he sees a treacherous situation.
Because of that, Groß wrote to the Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) to spelled out his concerns. But the rail company doesn’t see a need to take action at this time. Track one has been closed until 2019 for a major refurbishment. This leaves track two and three for most of the train traffic.
It’s especially full during the heavy travel periods in the morning, afternoon and early evening. Hans-Hermann Heyland from a group for the physically impaired, also sees reason to complain. “It’s all much too narrow and the trains go through too fast,” he says. Groß would like to see the speed of the trains passing through reduced and all freight trains being routed to track four.
For their part, the Deutsche Bahn doesn’t see a need to change the security concept. They have hardly received any complaints. A Bahn spokesperson responded to an inquiry, saying the construction project and its operations had been presented to the Federal Railway Authority (EBA) far before the start of the project.
A simulation tool was used in advance to measure safety on the platform during the construction period and it was determined that the situation would not be dangerous. Warning announcements are made when a train is passing through, there are signs posted and passengers are told on the loudspeaker to use the whole length of the platform.
EBA spokesperson Moritz Huckebrink said they do not have any reservations about the safety concept in place and don’t see a reason for the trains to reduce their speed - currently they are allowed to travel through at 100 kph. He also said that the party in charge of the building project is obligated to implement the safety concept stringently and adapt it if necessary according to developments. They would look again more closely at the situation at the Hauptbahnhof. (Orig. text: Philipp Königs)
