GERMANY’s federal government has approved a draft bill which allows for a reduction in the interest rate payable on equity provided by the government to infrastructure manager DB InfraGO. As interest payments are financed by track access charges, the lowering of interest rates could lead to a reduction in track access fees.
The interest rate is now set to fall from 5.2% to 2.2% from 2026. It is unclear by how much track access charges might fall, or if they will do so at all, but the prospect of a cut has been broadly welcomed across the rail sector.
The Federal Association of Local Rail Transport (BSN), which represents the interests of the country’s 27 public transport authorities, is pleased with the development.
“The fact that track access charges will rise overall is inevitable due to the planned equity increase at DB InfraGO,” says BSN president, Thomas Prechtl. “But if the draft bill successfully passes into law, a more moderate increase in track access charges would be possible.”
After 2026, BSN argues that the current system for funding rail infrastructure in Germany should change.
“For all future and urgently-needed investment in the maintenance, modernisation and construction of rail infrastructure, the federal government, as the owner of the rail network, must pay the costs directly, rather than by equity increases at DB InfraGO," Prechtl says.
