Munich Administrative Court Revokes Approval For New Construction Of Kampenwand Cable Car

With the announced judgment the Munich Administrative Court revoked the cable car approval for the new construction of the Kampenwand cable car. A corresponding lawsuit by the Federation for Nature Conservation in Bavaria eV against the decision of the Rosenheim District Office dated June 24, 2022 was essentially upheld.

The Kampenwand Cable Car (German: Kampenwandbahn) is a cable car up to Kampenwand, near Aschau, in the German state of Bavaria. It was built in 1957. A ride to the 1,500-metre-high (4,900 ft) summit station takes approximately 14 minutes.

In the opinion of the responsible chamber, the cable car permit is indefinite and therefore unlawful. From the approval notice and from the documents it refers to, it is not possible to clearly determine which trees may be felled to widen the route, even through interpretation.

The decisive factor for the vagueness of the approval is that it cannot be clearly identified where and to what extent trees in the protective forest or in the natural forest should be felled. It cannot be ruled out that tree felling in the natural forest will be necessary for the new construction of the Kampenwand cable car.

However, the felling of trees in the natural forest to enable the new railway to operate is not permitted. A legal regulation that exceptionally allows the felling of trees in natural forests for traffic safety is not relevant. The planned felling of trees to expand the route would not constitute traffic safety measures, but would make the new construction project possible.

Since, in the Chamber's opinion, the contested permit from 2022 was a new grant, the revocation of this new permit does not stand in the way of the fact that there is a valid cable car permit from 2017.

The chamber rejected the plaintiff's applications for evidence on species protection, which were intended to examine the protection of the black grouse in more detail, because this was not relevant to the court decision that has now been made.

Those involved can apply for permission to appeal the judgment to the Bavarian Administrative Court.