Deutsche Bahn will soon announce changes to its rail infrastructure overhaul planning. The company has made up its mind and now believes that the current schedule is too ambitious. It will subsequently reduce the frequency of its large-scale infrastructure project. Rail operators can therefore expect some relief from long-term disruptions.
DB CEO Evelyn Palla revealed last week that her company will halve the number of corridor modernisations from four to two per year. In special cases, DB could do three per year.
A rethought modernisation concept will be presented soon, although Palla declined to name a specific date. DB is still coordinating its plan with the transport ministry, report German media.
This could mean good news for the rail freight sector. It has long lobbied for relief from DB’s impactful corridor closures. These last months on end, meaning that important railways remain inaccessible and business suffers. Diversion routes are often inadequate or themselves closed as well.
Evelyn Palla said that experience gained from earlier modernisations, such as the Riedbahn and Hamburg–Berlin overhauls, have led DB to reassess the existing concept. However, the available funding for the projects could still be the leading factor in DB’s calculation. “We will adjust the number of corridor renovations per year to the available funding”, Palla said last week.
Going beyond 2036
Importantly, DB will not move away from the corridor overhaul concept entirely. It is merely reducing projects’ frequency. Long-term closures to upgrade long stretches of rail infrastructure will still occur in the coming decade or more. Initially, Germany aimed to finalise these overhauls by 2036. By doing two yearly, these projects will only be ready further into the future.
The frequency reduction will supposedly happen in parallel with more careful planning. “We also want to pay closer attention to how corridor renovations are geographically located within the network and how they are sequentially planned”, Palla explained.