Steyrling defends itself: protests against impending station closure!

Steyrling defends itself: protests against impending station closure!

The closure of the station in Steyrling becomes the hottest topic in the region: On December 14, 2024, the last train left the train station after the citizens had massively protested the upcoming decommissioning. In view of falling passenger numbers and economic arguments, ÖBB decided to close this train station, but the residents ask: "Do the turn of the traffic look?" This apostrophized "traffic turn" is strongly questioned, since in times of climate change it apparently cannot deal with the breakdown of rail capacities, such as meinbezirk.at reported.

resistance to the closure

The Steyrlingen citizens are calling for a stronger investment in the rail infrastructure to meet demands for closures. At the same time, they see themselves in their argumentation of the “traffic turn” towards a dilemma: While environmentalists and unions are striving for comprehensive change in local transport, the continuous loss of train stations such as the one in Steyrling is a clear sign that it is time to act urgently. In a joint explanation, the unions and environmental movements clearly stated that a fair turnaround of mobility not only requires a switch from the car to the train, but above all also investments in public transport. Without such investments, the direction of march does not exist, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Foundation

The employees in the rail industry are under pressure, while the decline of rail transport and bottlenecks in local public transport (public transport) are drastically tightened. The lack of sufficient financial support not only hinders the expansion of the infrastructure, but also leads to massive job losses in an industry that promises a development towards sustainable mobility. The demand for a minimum value added rate for vehicle procurement of public transport companies is urgently necessary to give the citizens the necessary planning security and maintain the local transport networks.