Billion investment planned: Deutsche Bahn is putting a record amount into the route network

Billion investment planned
Bahn puts record sums in the route network

The track network of Deutsche Bahn is 33,000 kilometers long. Little was done to preserve it over many years. Now the federally owned company wants to spend 13 billion euros on modernization – despite high debts. Critics still don't go far enough.

Deutsche Bahn has to contend with numerous construction sites again this year – and not just in a figurative sense. Tracks have to be renewed, points replaced and bridges rehabilitated all over the country. The federally owned company plans to spend 12.7 billion euros on this in 2021, more than ever before. "We are building a new network for Germany and laying the foundation stone for the Deutschlandtakt," said Infrastructure Director Ronald Pofalla.

The projects this year include the renovation of the Würzburg-Hanover high-speed line on the Kassel-Göttingen section. The tracks and points are to be completely renewed between April and July. In addition, renovation work is pending on the Hamburg-Berlin and Frankfurt / Main-Mannheim routes.

More local projects are also on the agenda, including the second construction stage of the Berlin Nordkreuz-Karow line for more capacity in the network. In addition, the electrification of the "Südbahn" between Ulm and Friedrichshafen should be completed by the end of 2021. "At the same time, the DB works in the major nodes of Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart," it said. "Early public participation has started on the Hanover-Bielefeld and Mannheim-Karlsruhe routes."

Deutsche Bahn also wants to make progress with digitization. This year, the S-Bahn line 21 in Hamburg and the first sections of the European Rhine-Alps freight corridor will be equipped with the European ETCS control system. The number of digital interlockings is to be increased significantly.

High investments in difficult times

The many billions of euros for these and other projects come primarily from investment funds already agreed by the federal government, the federal states and the railways. According to its own information, the group contributes around 2.4 billion euros of the total from its own resources, which are used for maintenance. The construction sites should disturb the traffic on the routes as briefly as possible. With faster, digital planning and earlier public participation, construction times are to be reduced by up to a quarter. Deutsche Bahn is already attributing half of its improved punctuality to better construction site management.

The railway announces the investments in a time full of difficulties: The number of passengers has collapsed in the Corona crisis. The result is high losses and growing liabilities. Before the crisis, the number of customers seemed to have no upper limit. In view of the climate crisis, the federal government promised to drive this development forward and to expand rail traffic, which is more climate-friendly than cars and airplanes.

"So far, federal commitment is not enough"

Politicians and corporations want to double the number of passengers by 2030. However, there are great doubts that the modernization of the rail network, which has been neglected for years, will be sufficient to cope with such demand. "We are heading in the right direction," said Dirk Flege, managing director of the pro-rail alliance. "But Germany not only needs a new, modernized network, it also needs a growing rail network. The federal government's commitment has not yet been sufficient."

The managing director of the European Railways Network (NEE), Peter Westenberger, said: "We are therefore critical of the fact that, unfortunately, DB will continue to build practically no additional routes in 2021 that we would actually need for the federal and industry's growth program."

The federal government has so far provided 1.6 billion euros a year for the construction of new routes. According to the railway, a total of 2.7 billion euros will be spent on the new construction and expansion this year. The group also emphasizes that the digitization of the existing network will also create new capacities. Whether that is enough will only be seen after the Corona crisis.

. (tagsToTranslate) Economy (t) Deutsche Bahn (t) Ronald Pofalla (t) Investments (t) Climate protection