Eight German rail associations have responded positively to Germany’s 2025 draft budget. They call the budget, together with the country’s special infrastructure fund, “a good basis for the further development of Germany’s rail infrastructure.” However, the sector also wants more reliability and a long-term perspective.
The 2025 draft budget includes nearly 22 billion euros for rail. That is around 5,5 billion euros more than in 2024, and 6,5 billion euros more than what the previous government had initially planned. The road, by comparison, can count on 14,2 billion euros. “We are ending the renovation backlog in the transport infrastructure”, Germany’s transport minister Patrick Schnieder commented on the draft budget plans.
Rail associations have responded positively to the boosted investment plans for their sector. “However, given the needs, the increase in funding planned for 2025 can only be the beginning”, says association Allianz pro-Schiene. There needs to be more predictability and reliability in the form of long-term financial commitments.
Special rail investment fund
In pursuit of long-term stability, the eight associations continue their call for a special rail investment fund. It should address the “sharply reduced construction cost subsidies” for construction, expansion and electrification of rail in the federal budget. Fortunately for the sector, the ruling parties have already agreed to create such a fund in their coalition agreement.
There also remains concern about the separation of financing from the special investment fund from the federal budget. Those special fund’s investments are supposed to be an addition to budget funding, but that requirement is not met in the current draft budget, the associations say. “Against this background, they view transfers from the core budget to the special infrastructure fund with skepticism.”