Plans to fully modernise and expand Germany’s national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, could be hit after a court ruling leaves a EUR 60 billion gap in funds set aside to finance climate and sustainable transformation policies. DB Germany’s recovery plans under question. Budget blow to DB Germany’s recovery plans.
According to Der Spiegel, transport Minister Volker Wissing of the pro-business Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) had estimated the remaining gap in Deutsche Bahn’s funding at EUR 25 billion, half of which was due to last week’s Constitutional Court ruling on the so-called “debt brake” that forced the government to reorganise its budget plans.
According to the article, the other EUR 12.5 billion that was supposed to come from the state railway company’s own budget may also be in jeopardy, as the government may not be able to replenish Deutsche Bahn’s treasury as originally planned for the next few years. A gap of more than EUR 5 billion could already appear in the company’s budget in 2024. German rail service is facing a high share of delayed trains and other service disruptions that undermine the government’s promise to strengthen the role of long-distance trains and public transport in the transition to mobility, including plans to modernise thousands of kilometres of track and purchase new trains.
Budget blow to DB Germany’s recovery plans
Earlier this year, the coalition government agreed to allocate EUR 45bn by 2027 to improve the country’s rail network. However, the amount had already been significantly reduced over the summer. Deutsche Bahn planned to spend EUR 20 billion on renovating the busiest railways from scratch, EUR 6 billion on expanding and electrifying the network, EUR 6 billion on digitisation and EUR 3 billion on modernising stations, among other investments.
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