Germany is on the brakes
BDI misses expansion of rail freight transport
December 25, 2023, 3:05 a.m
More and more goods have to be transported. The federal government wants to shift a quarter of this to rail. The BDI industry association sees the goal as illusory. The expansion of the infrastructure is progressing too slowly.
The President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), Siegfried Russwurm, has denounced the slow expansion of the rail infrastructure in Germany. “The rail infrastructure is growing in Europe, but we in Germany are massively slowing down,” Russwurm told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
There is currently “definitely not enough capacity” in the German rail network. The infrastructure is overloaded and in need of renovation, permits and construction take too long. “When we talk about additional routes or tracks on existing routes, it takes decades from the first idea to the first train,” said Russwurm. The upcoming general renovation of the most important rail corridors must be addressed effectively and efficiently.
The BDI boss also criticized declining punctuality in German freight transport. Companies would plan with a certain amount of lead time and buffers when purchasing parts or preliminary products, Russwurm told the Funke newspapers. “But of course it cannot be the claim of a leading economic nation like Germany that tardiness becomes the rule.”
Highest route prices in Europe
Russwurm expressed doubts about the federal government’s goal of having a good quarter of the transport volume in Germany handled by rail by 2030. “I think that’s illusory,” said the BDI president. “To achieve this, a third more goods would have to be transported by rail. A third of a transport volume that will continue to grow.” Last year, according to data from the Federal Network Agency, 19.8 percent of freight transport was carried out by trains.
Rail freight transport in Germany also suffers from the highest route prices in Europe. At the end of November, DB Netz AG announced that it would increase prices for using the rail network from 2025. Due to inflation, an increase in the so-called route fees by an average of six percent will be necessary, but significantly higher in freight and long-distance transport, as Deutsche Bahn explained. The “Die Güterbahnen” association criticized the high route prices as a huge barrier to market entry.