The newly renovated train station in Hamburg will remain closed due to a lack of building inspection inspectors at Deutsche Bahn. The S-Bahn stop Diebsteich in the Altona district of Hamburg cannot be accessed because of this issue. The station has been closed since October 2022 for renovations, with the original opening date scheduled for October. However, Deutsche Bahn has now postponed the opening to „early next year.“
The reason for the delay is that while the construction work was completed by summer, the three-week inspection of the signaling and safety technology can only take place in January. The lack of available inspection inspectors earlier was cited as the cause by the railway company. This is already the second delay, as the original plan to demolish and rebuild the old, dilapidated station within a year was not realized due to miscalculations by Deutsche Bahn.
Passengers will have to continue using buses as an alternative mode of transport. Building inspection inspectors are highly specialized experts recognized by the Federal Railway Authority, with training typically lasting between seven to ten years. Deutsche Bahn attributes the shortage of inspectors to the increased construction activities, leading to longer waiting times for assignments.
The Diebsteich S-Bahn station was renewed as part of the relocation of the Hamburg-Altona main station to Diebsteich, with a total project cost of 548 million euros. The new major train station is expected to begin operations at least temporarily in 2027, if all goes according to plan.