Great plans of Deutsche Bahn
Every third train station is to be renovated
6/20/2023 at 8:22 am
The infrastructure of Deutsche Bahn is not exactly in a good condition. The group therefore wants to spend billions of euros: to rehabilitate important routes, but also to bring hundreds of train stations into shape.
By 2030, Deutsche Bahn plans to renovate every third train station. This was reported from railway circles. The stations had to be brought into a condition that would meet the demands of customers, it said. There is agreement with the Federal Ministry of Transport.
The train is currently serving a good 5,400 stations. 700 of these stations are owned entirely by Deutsche Bahn, including the station building. As part of the rail reform in the 1990s, many of the other buildings were sold. 1,800 stations are now to be renovated by 2030 – including those where the buildings do not belong to the railways. More than two-thirds of customers would be reached with this restructuring plan.
Some repairs will be carried out as part of the general renovation of particularly important routes. The first general renovation is scheduled for the second half of 2024 between Mannheim and Frankfurt, and dozens are to follow. The railways are planning to close an important route for six months as part of a general renovation, and then to renovate everything that needs to be renovated in one go – including numerous stations.
The railway network is in need of renovation. The condition of the infrastructure is also a decisive factor for the state-owned group’s currently weak punctuality values. Deutsche Bahn also assumes that the network will have significantly more capacity after the renovations and that ultimately more trains will be able to run reliably on it.
Bahn needs around 45 billion euros
At the end of March, the leaders of the traffic light coalition determined that the railways would need around 45 billion euros to cover the investment needs by 2027. This investment requirement should be covered “as far as financially feasible”, among other things, through pro rata revenue from the truck toll, from which a good five billion euros are expected in 2024.
In 2024, Deutsche Bahn wants to invest seven billion euros in the infrastructure, a year later nine billion euros and 2026 twelve billion euros. According to railway circles, the industry needs a ramp-up in order to be able to build up more capacity bit by bit.