The name promises the most beautiful idyll.

Kühtrieb - that sounds like a path in the Alps, like a path up to a lonely alpine pasture. Above all, Kühtrieb sounds like heavenly peace, like a place where the melodic sound of cowbells can only be heard from afar.

But the name does not keep its promise.

Kühtrieb is the name of a level crossing near Kelkheim-Hornau.

There are no melodic bells to be heard, nor are any cows being driven across the path that crosses the railway line from Königstein to Kelkheim and Frankfurt-Höchst.

Jan Schiefenhoevel

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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It's not all that busy at the Hornauer Kühtrieb.

The little road that leads across the tracks between the forest and orchard is closed to motorized traffic.

Especially walkers, joggers and cyclists are out and about there.

It could almost be an idyll if there weren't a sound that is not at all melodic and that shatters the silence of the recreation area with reliable regularity: the horn of the train in front of the level crossing.

The warning signal is mandatory because the small crossing has neither a barrier nor a traffic light.

Therefore, the train driver has to warn with the horn, which he is reminded of by a sign next to the tracks.

To be on the safe side, the horn must sound twice before the level crossing.

This regulation actually makes sense at this point, because the train is approaching the level crossing through a curve and can therefore only be seen shortly beforehand.

There is a second level crossing just 200 meters further in the direction of Höchst, where two honks are also required.

So that's four horn horns with each passage.

With a train every half hour in each direction, that's 16 honks an hour.

Trains until 1am

That's too much for some in the nearby residential area of ​​Hornau, as Mayor Albrecht Kündiger of the Independent Kelkheim Voters' Initiative (UKW) knows.

As a resident of this part of town, he knows the sound of the horn all too well.

And as the head of the town hall, he gets to hear the complaints of the citizens who are startled by the warning signals.

Everything wouldn't be so bad if the horn was only honked during the day.

But for several years, the trains have been running on the route until after 1 a.m.

Although Kelkheimers are happy about the better connection to public transport, the late trains also mean that complaints are increasing, as Kündiger says

But Hornau will be relieved of the acoustic pain, as Kündiger announced on Tuesday.

The city has negotiated with the Hessische Landesbahn, owner of the line, that a warning light will be installed at the Kühtrieb level crossing.

Then you don't have to honk there anymore.

And the second level crossing further south will be completely dismantled, the warning signals will also be omitted there.

However, some bureaucracy is the price of future calm.

Before the red light can be set up, a planning approval procedure must be completed, and the Hessen Mobil state authority also wants to be consulted.

That takes time.

That's why the Hornauers have to live with the penetrating tones of the horn for another two years.