Germany’s new rail repair plan foresees delays remaining high until 2030

Germany's government expects train delays caused by faulty rail infrastructure to remain more than twice as high in 2030 as in 2020, according to figures in its first five-year plan for the national rail network. The "Infraplan" also shows that the country can count on relatively little new track and electrification by the end of the decade, and it leaves funding unresolved.

The plan, which transport minister Steffen Bilger sent to parliament, brings together planned repairs, electrification and new lines for 2026 to 2030 in one public document for the first time. It foresees 155 kilometres of new track over the period, with none at all in 2029, and the share of electrified lines rising by just one percentage point to 63.7 percent.

The transport sector is one of the biggest challenges for German climate policy, as its emissions have remained almost unchanged since the 1990s. The country’s plans to reduce emissions involve increasing train use, but the poor performance of the railways makes this a distant prospect. The Court of Auditors said last year that Germany’s railway lacks a strategy to escape its “permanent crisis.”

Once a byword for efficiency, state-owned Deutsche Bahn has become notorious for unreliable trains. In September, almost every second long-distance train ran late, with the company again blaming a high number of infrastructure faults. The government faces intense public pressure to improve the situation. Last year, it presented a long-awaited strategy, but warned that much-needed repairs on a massive scale would cause further delays.

Passenger association Pro Bahn welcomed the transparency reflected in the Infraplan, but said its contents were “sobering”. All delays through faults at signal boxes, switches and tracks added up to an average of 28,820 minutes per day in 2025, 2.4 times as much as in 2020, and the plan's 2030 target is still 25,600 minutes.

Pro-rail alliance Allianz pro Schiene said the plan represented a “first step towards a systemic change in the management and development of rail infrastructure in Germany”, but added the next step must be to secure the necessary funding. The government plans a rail infrastructure fund that would guarantee money for projects over several years rather than one budget at a time, but it is not yet in place. 

The rail workers' union EVG called for the fund to be set up quickly. "Anyone wanting to pop the champagne corks now is likely to be disappointed: on financing, the signals are still at red," said EVG head Martin Burkert.