A ruling by the Cologne Administrative Court on 1 October has seriously hindered attempts to assert control over German rail’s operational costs. Rather than limiting infrastructure manager DB InfraGO’s capacity to generate track access charge (TAC) revenue, it has paved the way for an explosion in costs.
The court case centred around DB InfraGO’s total cost ceiling. This determines the maximum amount of TAC that the infrastructure manager can charge. While the Federal Network Agency had earlier set this limit to around €7.3 billion in June, the Cologne court has now reversed that decision.
The result: the total cost ceiling is now around €8.2 billion. This will allow DB InfraGO to raise TACs even further (by some 12.5% at least in the standard segment), but rail freight costs are expected to grow much more than that.
Cologne’s administrative court reasons that the Federal Network Agency was wrong to reduce the total cost ceiling. It factored in a cost-reducing subsidy agreement between DB InfraGO and the federal government, but it was not yet in place. It is expected only at the end of 2026. Therefore, it could not be factored into the total cost ceiling calculation.
75% higher TACs
The financial impact of the ruling is aggravated by a reduction in TAC subsidies planned for the next timetable year. Germany will reduce those from €345 million to €200 million. When the timetable changes in December, rail freight can expect to pay 75% higher track access charges compared to the current timetable year, believes branch association Die Güterbahnen.
“This decision reflects a systemic failure: Despite promises, the federal government has failed to reform the track access charge system, forcing political disputes to be settled in court”, reacts the association’s Managing Director Neele Wesseln.
“The Federal Network Agency at least attempted to limit the enormous cost increases of InfraGO and thus the jumps in track access charges, but current legislation prevents this. As a result, ever-increasing federal funds and sharply rising track access charge revenues are disappearing into a black hole of personnel and construction costs, without railway companies receiving any improvement to the network”, Wesseln added.
If Germany takes no action to reform the TAC system, traffic will decrease further and exacerbate the problem, she warns.