Munich's second S-Bahn trunk line: tunnelling starts autumn 2026

The second trunk line will relieve Munich's overloaded S-Bahn trunk line via a roughly 11 km new route between Laim and Leuchtenbergring, including a 7 km tunnel with new underground stations at Hauptbahnhof, Marienhof and Ostbahnhof. According to the official project site, all tunnel construction contracts have been awarded and the first tunnel-boring-machine drive is scheduled to start in autumn 2026 (public open-site day planned for September 2026). The source states no official completion date; the tracked list assumes 2035 as the planned commissioning year. Update (3 Dec 2025): On 20 October 2025 a ground-breaking ceremony started the shell construction of the new Ostbahnhof station and the underground structures in the eastern section (investment about EUR 1 billion, up to 1,000 workers, carried out by Hochtief and Implenia); construction is now under way throughout the inner city between Laim and Leuchtenbergring. Between the Isar and Leuchtenbergring, two traffic tunnels, a rescue tunnel and the 16 m deep station are being built, to be excavated by three tunnel boring machines over about 3 km. According to a report of 3 Dec 2025, the Tunnel Hauptbahnhof joint venture has ordered the first of six tunnel boring machines from Herrenknecht (weighing about 700 t); it was due to start excavating the roughly 3 km exploratory and rescue tunnel between Donnersbergerbrücke and Marienhof from September 2026, and the first machines for the traffic tunnels are expected to start in 2028. DB gives a completion window of 2035 to 2037; the date is a placeholder and follows the end of that window. (LOK Report, 20 Oct and 3 Dec 2025) Update (21 May 2026): Herrenknecht handed over the first tunnel boring machine for the 2nd trunk line to DB InfraGO and the ARGE Tunnel Hauptbahnhof joint venture on 21 May 2026; the Mixshield machine, about 178 m long, weighing roughly 700 tonnes and 5 m in diameter, is being moved to the launch pit near the Donnersbergerbrücke and is due to bore a rescue and exploratory tunnel of about 3 km from September 2026. Six tunnel tubes will be built in total, and boring of the first traffic tunnel is expected to start in 2028; commissioning is now planned for the period 2035 to 2037. The date is a placeholder: a window from 2035 to 2037 is given, and its end is used. (LOK Report, 21 May 2026) Update (17 Sep 2026): With the exercise of the construction option for lot VE734 (Ostbahnhof to Berg-am-Laim-Strasse including rescue shaft 9), all tunnelling work has been contracted since 16 July 2026; the order is worth a mid three-digit million sum and went to Wayss & Freytag, and from 2028 about 500 m of tunnel will be built under 16 tracks of the Ostbahnhof while rail operations continue. The first tunnel boring machine, Donna Maria (178 m long, 700 t), has been boring the roughly 3 km exploratory and rescue tunnel from the Donnersbergerbrücke to the Marienhof since 17 September 2026 and is to reach the Marienhof after a good year at about eight metres a day; boring of the traffic tunnels is planned for 2028, and six machines will be used in all. The report on the launch expects commissioning towards the end of the 2030s, and the passenger association Pro Bahn criticises that commissioning of the second track at the new Laim platform, planned for the end of May, did not take place (at least the third major delay there), which in its view also delays the Laim environmental-transport tube and the Westtangente tram. (LOK Report, 1 Jun, 16 Jul, 29 Jul and 17 Sep 2026)