In the general line plan a suburban cross connection was also intended as an outer ring (Schwabing - Bogenhausen - Ostbahnhof - Giesing - Sendling - Neuhausen - Schwabing). This already scheduled construction of the section Sendling - Neuhausen was abruptly interrupted in 1914 by the outbreak of World War I. The drafting of a large part of the staff resulted in a severely curtailed "wartime schedule" with the discontinuation of most reinforcement lines and a shortening of some of the main lines. From 1915 on, the conductors on the vehicles were gradually replaced by women, their numbers rising to 770, which after the war were replaced by men again.

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Due to the financial shortage and the lack of material, which rendered not only the repair of the cars but also of the track material impossible, but for years to come there was no thought of methodical new track constructions or even simple extensions.

New routes were only set up for important military operations, such as weapons and ammunition factories. The material levying was enormous, with 2650 tonnes of copper alone. 26 tonnes of overhead lines had to be replaced by iron wire. As a result of the war events in 1916, the tram line system was connected to the railway systems, in order to save fuel by having provisionally converted tram cars as goods and hospital trains run in the inner city. For this purpose, makeshift rails were laid upon the roadways. Towards the end of the war only a greatly reduced emergency traffic could be maintained.

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In January 1916, the directors Dix and Schauberger retired, their honorary position was taken over by the already retired former Bavarian Minister of Transport, Heinrich von Frauendorfer. Chief engineer Otto Scholler was assigned as his deputy.

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Even during the revolutionary period from November 1918 to May 1919 , the maintenance of the operation could be maintained on most days, although often - through lack of spare parts - less than half of the cars was operational. Unrest, strikes and above all the disastrous coal shortage and the resulting lack of electricity hampered the operation. Lastly the network suffered major destruction for the first time during the revolutionary battles from April 30 to May 2, 1919, especially on the overhead lines.

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Translation by Google

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Weiter: 1919-1930 Wiederaufbau der Trambahn und zweite Blütezeit