THE German cabinet approved the country’s draft budget for 2027 on July 6, which includes an allocation of €20.8bn for rail infrastructure. Although investment in planned infrastructure improvements will rise by €2.2bn, the Ministry of Transport’s (BMV) core budget is set to fall. In addition, track access fee subsidies for freight operators have been removed, with the savings to government not passed on to regional passenger operators.
The budget does not appear to have taken on board the request from Germany’s state passenger rail authorities made on June 25 for a €14bn increase in regional funding for the 2026–2031 period to maintain current service levels.
The 2027 draft budget has been criticised by industry bodies, including the Federal Association for Local Passenger Rail Transport (BSN). It points out that some funding will be shifted from the core budget to other financing pots, a move it says is not transparent and will make it more difficult to control costs.
A total of €13.7bn earmarked for rail appears to have been moved to the dedicated national infrastructure fund set up last year. A further €681m of unspecified construction cost subsidies for rail have migrated from the transport budget to the defence budget. In addition, €3.5bn in construction cost subsidies are planned for railway maintenance, although it is unclear which particular projects will benefit from this.
“We demand an investment fund for the railway network that enables planning and construction over the long-term and thus creates stability,” says BSN. “This must be accompanied by a dedicated infrastructure development plan, for which the industry has been waiting for months.
“Track access charges in regional rail transport are rising and public transport authorities can expect demands for additional payments of around €800m for 2025 and 2026,” adds Peter Panitz, president of BSN.
“The federal states and public authorities cannot afford that. The track access fee subsidies for rail freight transport, which were cut from the budget, should therefore have been used to benefit regional rail services.”
The draft federal budget still needs to be approved by parliament, with a final vote expected by the end of this year.
