German railway needs extra funding to profit from law reform to speed up infrastructure buildout – NGO
Clean Energy Wire
A draft law reform to accelerate infrastructure expansion in Germany risks falling short of its potential due to insufficient funding for the modernisation of the country’s railway, said railway lobby group Allianz pro Schiene.
“If the government continues to allocate only limited funds for rail expansion and new construction in the federal budget, even a legally mandated acceleration of planning will not lead to new or additional tracks,” said the group’s managing director Dirk Flege. He criticised that the government had allocated significant funds for the construction of new roads. “This means that, ultimately, we will accelerate the construction of new motorways and federal highways that are questionable from a climate policy perspective,” he said.
The government had decided the first element of a package of reforms to speed up and facilitate planning and permitting for infrastructure projects in Germany, the Infrastructure Future Act. The draft classifies key transport projects involving roads, railways and waterways, as well as the construction of truck parking spaces, as projects of overriding public interest and public safety. It also proposes a uniform digital procedural law for all infrastructure projects.
The cabinet plans to decide the second part of the reform by the end of February 2026, which would propose “far-reaching changes in environmental law,” the transport ministry said. It aims to harmonise environmental standards in the planning and permitting processes across federal states.
Environmental NGOs criticised the reform proposals would weaken environmental standards. “The draft Infrastructure Future Act is a massive attack on regulations designed to protect nature and the environment,” said Verena Graichen, policy head at Friends of the Earth Germany.
Germany's government has introduced a debt-financed special fund worth 500 billion euros for a wide range of infrastructure and climate neutrality projects over the next decade. The special fund, launched in combination with a major defence package, allows the coalition government of chancellor Friedrich Merz to bypass the country's debt brake and make additional investments that are meant to improve Germany's competitiveness and put the country on track towards achieving a net-zero economy by 2045.
Government advisors have warned that there are insufficient monitoring and review procedures in place to assess whether the special fund's money is actually used for additional infrastructure investments or rather to replace expenses initially earmarked in the core budget.
