Residents alarmed

Automatically saved draft

The Langkampfen Inn floodplains will be largely spared.

(Bild: zVg)

Huge compensation areas have to be found for the railroad extension in the Kufstein area. Time is pressing, the farmers are alarmed. A hearing will take place in Innsbruck on Tuesday, with the environmental lawyer in attendance. 

Around 30 hectares of land, an area the size of 40 soccer pitches, will be taken up by the railroad extension in the lowlands. The four-track extension Schaftenau - Radfeld junction is planned as an access route for the Brenner Base Tunnel. On Tuesday, the "partially concentrated approval procedure in accordance with the EIA Act" will take place in the Landhaus.

Five landfills for excavation and spoil
According to the Environmental Ombudsman's Office, the project includes the construction of track systems, noise protection walls, trough and tunnel structures, basin systems, traffic systems, walls, construction site facilities, a segment factory, a separation plant and a total of five landfills at four different locations over a distance of 20 kilometers.

"Massive impairment of the protected assets"
Discharges into bodies of water (Inn, Gießenbach, Nasenbach) occur during both the construction and operational phases. The Kufsteiner and Langkampfener Inn floodplain nature reserve will only be affected underground by a borehole. "ÖBB is facing major challenges," summarizes Walter Tschon, Deputy Provincial Environmental Ombudsman.

According to the provisions of the applicable EIA Act, certain ecological compensation measures must already be in place when construction work begins.

Stv. Landesumweltanwalt Walter Tschon

"Due to the size of the project, numerous and, above all, very extensive interventions are to be expected. In some areas, this will lead to massive impairment of nature conservation assets. According to the provisions of the EIA Act applicable here, certain ecological compensation measures must already take effect when construction work begins."

In plain language: if the actual start of construction is to be 2028, the compensation areas must be created and secured at an early stage. Therefore, for example, clearing and other measures must begin as early as fall 2025 or spring 2026 at the latest, Tschon outlines the tight schedule.

Filling Eiberg landfill apparently off the table again
As reported, the farmers are more than alarmed. VP-LA Michael Jäger has already suggested considering forest areas as compensation areas in order to conserve arable land and minimize the economic impact on farmers. "We have also already suggested using the Eiberg landfill site for this construction site. However, this was rejected - with the argument that the Eibergstraße is already very heavily congested by traffic."

According to Tschon, ÖBB intends to "reuse the excavated material in the project area if possible or to incorporate it into the Langkampfen, Niederbreitenbach, Schöfftal and Ochsental landfills". Concerned residents have already contacted the company. However, they are not fundamentally opposed to the project.