The Munich underground network is one of the most extensive, modern and efficient in the world. Extensive investment in infrastructure is required to upgrade the approximately 95-kilometre-long network, with its 100 stations, to meet future demand and facilitate network expansion. These include not only the refurbishment of buildings, tracks and superstructures, but also new signalling technology and the refurbishment of station facilities. In addition to Marienplatz and Sendlinger Tor stations, there are plans to equip other interchange stations in the city centre with high passenger demand with additional stairways or access routes.
Planning and new construction projects
U5 West: Laimer Platz – Pasing Station
On 15 December 2021, Munich City Council granted project approval for the extension of the U5 from Laimer Platz to Pasing and commissioned the Building Department to construct the first section. Construction work on the first section began in January 2022. The new underground line is approximately 3.8 kilometres long and comprises three new stations: Willibaldstraße, Am Knie and Pasing.
The extension of the U5 West underground line is expected to take around ten years to complete, with the aim of opening it in the early 2030s.
U6 West Großhadern Hospital – Martinsried
Partly due to the high concentration of universities and research institutions in Martinsried, the U6 line will in future also extend beyond the city limits. Construction of the 1.3-kilometre-long section beyond Klinikum Großhadern into the municipality of Planegg began in February 2023. The line is expected to open in 2026/27.
U 9 underground relief link from Sendling to Schwabing
The project is currently in the pre-planning phase. Extensive studies have shown that the new line is structurally feasible in terms of its route
(Implerstraße/Poccistraße – Hauptbahnhof – Münchner Freiheit – Dietlindenstraße, including a branch line from Hauptbahnhof to Theresienstraße) and the additional stations. The final results of the preliminary planning are expected to be available in 2026.
The City Council’s decision in autumn 2022 to fund the central reserve structure beneath the Central Station (new underground station) laid an important foundation for long-term capacity planning. In terms of its transport significance and structural scale, the U9 is equivalent to the second S-Bahn trunk line. The new line is primarily intended to relieve traffic and operational pressure on the heavily used north-south axes of lines U2 and U3/U6. It also creates the conditions for further increasing service frequency and extending the lines in the future. According to current estimates, completion is not expected before the end of the 2030s.
U4 East Arabellapark – Englschalking
The extension of the U4 from Arabellapark to Englschalking in the east of Munich is still in the planning phase. The construction and commissioning of the approximately two-kilometre-long line depend on the development of the new urban district in north-east Munich. There is also a close link to the planned four-track expansion of the S8 between Daglfing and Johanneskirchen.
A further extension of the U4 beyond the planning area to Messestadt or towards Aschheim is to be examined as part of further assessments in the infrastructure section of the local transport plan and kept open for planning purposes.
U26 Am Hart – Kieferngarten
According to studies to date, a link between Kieferngarten (U 6) and Am Hart station (U 2), featuring four new stations, could relieve traffic flows in the Neufreimann area and the neighbouring districts. Due to a lack of available route capacity in the city centre, the approximately four-kilometre-long line could only be built after the completion of the U 9. It is therefore likely that it would not enter service until the 2040s.
U5 extension to Taufkirchen/Ottobrunn
Since 2018, Munich District has been investigating an extension of the U5 underground line to the Taufkirchen/Ottobrunn Aerospace Campus. This area is home to major companies in the aerospace industry as well as a Faculty of Aeronautics, Astronautics and Geodesy at the Technical University of Munich.
The preferred option currently under consideration envisages three new stations over a distance of around 5.5 kilometres in the municipalities of Neubiberg, Ottobrunn and Taufkirchen. The aim is to provide significant support for the car-free development of the Taufkirchen/Ottobrunn Aerospace Campus.
