The current situation: bike chaos on the south side of the railway station
The municipality of Eindhoven is tired of waiting and is starting the tender for the new bicycle parking facility on the south side of the station. For 2.5 years, the municipality has been waiting for a hearing of the Council of State in which there will be a ruling on objections from two objectors to the bicycle cellar. According to alderman Stijn Steenbakkers, the city cannot wait any longer.
The municipality has chosen this step because waiting even longer adds more risks, such as “higher construction costs, delay of the three residential towers in the area and a longer period of nuisance” according to, alderperson Steenbakkers. “Another consequence”, he adds, “is the absence of travellers due to poor accessibility of the station”.
Burden
Legal experts from the municipality and external lawyers estimate the chance that the appeals to the Council of State can stop the project as ‘small’. The parties that objected are Stichting Beter Eindhoven and De Veste. According to Steenbakkers, it is ‘not the normal course of events’ that the municipality is already starting the tender. “Normally we just wait for the outcome of the lawsuit.”
‘Get started’
Theoretically, it could even be the case that the construction of the bicycle cellar starts before there is a ruling from the Council of State. “That is conceivable,” says Steenbakkers. “We just have to get started now.” Eindhoven has run out of patience. The entrance to the bicycle cellar must be completed at the same time as the District E construction project on the Stationsplein.
Eindhoven is doing the tender together with ProRail, the party that deals with building on and around the railway. ProRail is expected to decide on the tender in mid-October. It will then start at the end of 2025. The new bicycle parking facility with space for 5400 bicycles should be open in 2029.
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Muktha Kartik
