»There's Plenty of Money«

German Transport Minister Scheuer asserts this at the Innotrans trade fair, which took place last week in Berlin. The railway managers urge to implement the ambitious goals of the coalition agreement to strengthen rail transport.

No mention of the crisis of Deutsche Bahn and the emergency cost reduction measure that Deutsche Bahn boss Richard Lutz installed last week. »Deutsche Bahn has a great future,« said Transport Minister Scheuer today at the Innotrans opening ceremony. At the same time, however, the railways are also facing major challenges. »Building and laying railroad tracks is very expensive, and they have to be maintained on a regular basis,« the Minister of Transport announced. But the federal government had set itself an ambitious goal in the coalition agreement: doubling the number of long-distance passengers by 2030.

To expand capacities, the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan therefore includes an investment volume of 279 billion euros by 2030. Of this, however, only 42 percent is earmarked for railroad infrastructure.

To ensure that the investments can also be made, it is important to involve the citizens in the planning. Additionally, the government is also working on a law for accelerating such planning.

For the further introduction of the train protection system ETCS (European Train Control System), 600 million euros have been earmarked until 2023. With this system, train operations can become smoother. Line capacity will increase by around 20 percent without the need to build new tracks.

In response to questions about the digitalization of the rail network or a more comprehensive introduction of ETCS, the Minister replied by saying that mobile phone gaps along the lines would have to be closed.

Demand for Consistent Expansion

Jürgen Fenske, head of Cologne's public transport services and president of the VDV (Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen - Association of German Transport Companies), highlighted the example of Vienna, where 27 percent of all journeys are made by public transport and the car only has a share of 44 percent. This turnaround in mobility was not achieved by the 365 euro ticket and not by digitization, but by the fact that the infrastructure and capacities were consistently expanded over the years.