2024-04-29 18:45:05
The construction work on Deutsche Bahn routes and stations is a major project. Now the company is announcing for the first time how expensive the undertaking will be.
Deutsche Bahn started this year with an enormous effort. A total of 2,000 kilometers of tracks and 2,000 switches are to be replaced. There is also work on 150 bridges and 1,000 train stations and stops. This entails a lot of planning effort for alternative connections during construction work and, above all, becomes one thing: expensive.
“The investments by DB, the federal government and the states in rail infrastructure will total around 16.4 billion euros in 2024 alone,” the federally owned company announced on Monday. The railway wants to ensure that the aging of the railway infrastructure is stopped. In order to meet the challenges surrounding maintenance and expansion, 5,500 new employees are to be hired this year.
Greatest backlog for bridges
The railway network is considered dilapidated and overloaded. In everyday operations, many disruptions on important routes and numerous construction sites have recently led to major problems with punctuality. The aging of the railway infrastructure is measured in the annual network status report. The current report (for 2022) puts the “age-based backlog” at 103.4 billion euros. The backlog demand for bridges is particularly large (59.9 billion euros). Whether aging can be stopped in 2024 will only be seen in the network status report after next.
And that is just the beginning of the extensive renovation project: It is the first of 40 general renovations planned in the coming years up to 2030.