Friday 29 October 2021
More trains and less cars?
Traffic light parties are wrestling with transport policy
Introduce speed limit, abolish commuter allowance: What would benefit climate protection and your own political credibility hurts drivers. When it comes to transport policy, the traffic light parties are squaring the circle. A new era could dawn for train drivers too.
The traffic with millions of drivers and passengers in buses and trains in Germany must become more climate-friendly – that is undisputed and at the same time politically sensitive. Because the future government partners of the SPD, Greens and FDP will not be able to avoid redirecting coveted government billions. More money for the railways, more goods for the railways, but also less money for the car?
The traffic light negotiators have to drill thick boards for the desired “traffic turnaround” in the coalition talks. Some guard rails are in place, but important issues remain unanswered. How should a possible investment offensive for the railways be financed, i.e. above all the new construction and expansion of routes, for example for better connections in the countryside? Revenue that was previously used for road traffic could be used for the railways – in addition, “climate-damaging” subsidies could be reduced in order to gain financial leeway.
But that is not undisputed. FDP leader Christian Lindner now made it clear: the commuter flat rate should be adhered to. He told the “Rheinische Post” that the reduction in subsidies should not result in a “tax increase for the working middle class”, as would be the case with the abolition or reduction of the commuter allowance. At the same time, he made a different proposal and questioned the previous state subsidies for hybrid cars with combustion engines and separately chargeable electric motors: “For example, we are giving one billion euros in subsidies for plug-in vehicles that have no reliable ecological benefit. “
Dispute over commuter flat-rate
In rural areas in particular, where rail connections are often poor, changes to the commuter allowance – which costs the state six billion euros a year – would probably not go down well, even in the face of the acute rise in fuel prices. The question of abolishing financial support for commuters can “only be asked with city glasses if trains and buses run every minute or you can get to work by bike”, criticized the executive Federal Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner from the CDU.
In their exploratory paper, the SPD, FDP and the Greens had expressly announced that they would review the federal budget for “superfluous, ineffective and environmentally and climate-damaging subsidies and expenditures” – in order to gain additional leeway. The Green budget politician Sven-Christian Kindler underlined this: “It is not smart, in the middle of the climate crisis, to fuel it with large double-digit billions in taxpayers’ money,” he said.
In the Greens election manifesto, it is said that in a first step, more than 15 billion euros could be released annually by reducing climate-damaging subsidies in order to finance social justice and climate protection. And a big problem child when it comes to climate protection is traffic. Greenhouse gas emissions have hardly fallen in recent years, and climate targets are in danger of being missed.
Diesel privilege and company cars are also being scrutinized
The subsidies are also about a possible end to the “diesel privilege”. Diesel is taxed less than petrol. Something could also change with company cars. Only on Thursday the Federal Environment Agency confirmed in a new study that the “company car privilege” contradicts the goal of climate protection through the favorable use of combustion cars. The flat-rate commuter allowance also favors car traffic in particular.
However, billions in new expenditures also need to be clarified. Railway associations demanded on Friday that the federal government must increase the funds for the new construction and expansion of the rail network to at least three billion euros per year by the middle of the election period at the latest – so far it has been 1.5 billion euros. “The rail network must be expanded, and billions in taxes for road and air traffic must be reduced in return,” said Dirk Flege, managing director of the Pro Schiene Alliance. “Every train journey saves CO2 and helps our planet” – this is how Deutsche Bahn recently started a new campaign. “Climate protection can also be easy.”
In general, the federally owned transport giant plays a key role in the traffic turnaround. However, the financial situation of Deutsche Bahn is still tense, even if the passenger numbers are gradually recovering. The group incurred a loss of 1.4 billion euros in the first six months of 2021 alone in view of the Corona crisis. However, the managers are confident that they will be back in the black in the coming year. But there are also billions in debts.
Have you cleared the speed limit?
The rail associations called for a state fund to provide long-term financial security for the expansion and modernization of the rail infrastructure. The Greens are also calling for such a fund, which could also be fed from revenue from the truck toll. The billions in revenue from the truck toll have so far been used for the federal highways. At the railway itself, “silverware” could also be turned into money by selling daughters. The future structure of the group is also up for debate – but there are contradicting views. The FDP calls for the network and rail operations to be separated and operations to be privatized. However, the SPD has strictly rejected this for years.
The three parties have cleared away one of the trickiest points that would not cost billions from the start: there will be no general speed limit on motorways, they already stated in the explorations. This cannot be done with the FDP – although, according to a new survey, the majority in Germany is in favor. In the ARD “Deutschlandtrend”, 60 percent were in favor of a speed limit of 130 as a contribution to environmental and climate protection.