City of Salzburg: 58.3 percent voted against underground S-LINK

2023-11-26 19:22:00

The voter turnout was 22.35 percent. However, the result is not binding for city politics. In addition, the state government announced a nationwide survey on the controversial project weeks ago by mid-2024 – then with a politically binding result.

Exactly 113,578 people were eligible to vote on Sunday and were able to answer the question “Should an underground tunnel be built from the main station to Mirabellplatz and under the Salzach to the south of the city of Salzburg for the S-LINK rail project?” answer with “yes” or “no”. Of the 25,269 valid votes, 10,536 (41.7 percent) were for and 14,733 (58.3 percent) against the project. The participation was slightly higher than in the citizen survey on the expansion of the Mönchsberggarage in June 2022 (21.98 percent). At that time, 84.4 percent voted against the expansion – which was then canceled.

The survey was initiated by the “Stop U-Bahn” initiative, which rejects the project in its current form. “Stop U-Bahn” calls for a complete mobility concept for the region before construction begins, firstly optimizing the existing public transport and better cycling and walking connections. At the same time, the initiative favors an above-ground route: a subway is not ecological in its construction, outdated, uneconomical and far too expensive. The S-LINK project company contradicts this. A total of 14 route variants were examined; those that ran entirely on the surface had serious disadvantages in terms of travel time, reserve capacity, traffic safety and timetable stability.

17 kilometers of new line planned

The S-LINK is the extension of the Salzburg local railway from the main train station through the city to Hallein. The crossing of the city center and the Salzach is planned underground, which has given the project the nickname U-Bahn or mini-U-Bahn. Technically and under railway law, the S-LINK is considered a high-speed railway. A total of around 17 kilometers of new construction is planned, up to seven kilometers of which will be in tunnels. Depending on the length of the underground route, the construction costs are expected to be between 1.985 and 2.838 billion euros.

The first, around 900 meter long section from the main train station to Mirabellplatz has been planned. Like the Vienna subway, it is financed 50 percent from federal funds and is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment. The public hearing will take place on December 11th. Depending on the official approval process, construction could begin in early 2025, and the first trains to Mirabellplatz could run in 2028. Beyond that, little is known about the plans so far: there is a recommendation for a route corridor for the second stage up to Akademiestrasse, and the route selection process is underway for the other sections.