2024-02-02 19:40:58
The federal government’s cost-cutting efforts are ensuring that planned projects to rebuild and expand the rail network and digitize rail transport are a long way off. This emerges from documents from the new infrastructure division of Deutsche Bahn, DB Infra Go, to the supervisory board, which “Spiegel” first reported on Friday.
The railway will then concentrate primarily on renovating the existing network and postpone further construction and expansion for cost reasons. This directly affects new Deutschlandtakt projects, such as the new Nuremberg-Würzburg line. The new Mannheim-Frankfurt, Hanau-Gelnhausen-Fulda and the digital node in the controversial Stuttgart 21 megaproject would also be affected, according to supervisory board circles.
The readjustment of the plans makes it clear how great the railway’s financial needs are. After a tough struggle, the traffic light government made up of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP has agreed to invest a further 31.5 billion euros in the rail network by 2029 – in addition to the long-agreed financial flows amounting to billions. This will be financed by the “largest infrastructure renovation package in German railway history,” as Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) emphasized to the FAZ. But this record investment cannot hide the fact that the federal government has already made further progress: before the Federal Constitutional Court’s bombshell on the debt brake, the coalition had promised the railway 40 billion euros.
Bahn wants to stick to expansion plans
The fact that the increase is now smaller than expected inevitably leaves its mark on the planning, which is far from being completed. The Federal Ministry of Transport made it clear that the report refers to an interim status drawn up in December on financing agreements between the federal government and DB. “This does not mean that individual projects will be canceled,” explained a ministry spokesman. There is an “intensive exchange” with the DB about how the necessary expansion can be pushed forward under the given budgetary conditions. “Of course, in addition to the renovation, there is still a need for new construction and expansion in line with the German rhythm.”
The budget situation for 2024 and the foreseeable medium-term financial planning threaten “a massive clear-cutting of new rail projects,” warned transport politician Matthias Gastel (Greens). “The federal government’s goals such as the relocation of rail freight transport or the electrification of railway lines are in danger of failing.” He called on the transport and finance ministries to develop solutions, otherwise there would be massive damage to the economy. The member of the Bundestag referred to the Austrian model, which is also always cited as a role model when it comes to financing.
Deutsche Bahn emphasized that it was sticking to the new construction and expansion projects “fundamentally unchanged”. However, due to the current budget situation, it is necessary to review the timing of these projects in the short term. “As agreed with the federal government, the focus of implementation is initially on modernizing and renewing the existing network and on the projects that are already under construction.”
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The railways and the Federal Ministry of Transport made it clear that the financing of the first general renovations and the maintenance of the existing network were secured in the budget for the current and next year. “Until the new DB financial planning is approved by the Group Supervisory Board in March, we will develop solutions that will ensure that planning continues until the financing is fully clarified,” explained a group spokeswoman. The aim is to prevent project times from being extended.
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