The division responsible for railway infrastructure is aiming to substantially hike route fares, beginning from 2026.
For traffic within the region, there's a surge of 23.5%, for long-distance journeys it's 10.1%, and for freight transport, it's 14.8%. The process of getting approval from the network agency starts in October early on. InfraGo, the infrastructure division of Bahn, justifies the planned enhancement in the rail track fee due to escalating costs, notably interest payments and depreciation, stemming from an anticipated rise in Bahn's equity.
The rail track fee is a charge levied on using the railway network, which every transport firm is obliged to pay. Known as track prices, these charges are imposed by InfraGo, the infrastructure division of Bahn.
Various federal states express apprehensions about potential cuts in local traffic, as reported by "SZ". The increased track prices may lead to additional costs ranging between 800 million to 1 billion euros yearly for the operation of S-Bahns and regional trains across the nation.
In Bavaria, such a price hike is deemed "unaffordable" with the current funding for local traffic, according to the state's Transport Department. Baden-Württemberg's Transport Minister Winfried Hermann (Greens) stated that if these plans are confirmed, "local rail traffic in the states will encounter significant challenges". The states cannot simply "bear additional track charges to offset Bahn's inadequate funding". Hermann demanded that the federal government shoulders the additional costs in "Süddeutsche".
From the viewpoint of Saxony's Transport Department, the proposed increase in track charges is a "significant additional burden". Thuringia's Infrastructure Minister Susanna Karawanskij (Left) alerted in the newspaper that "the transport transition could falter".
The Ministry of Transport in Baden-Württemberg expresses concerns about the impact of the increased track prices on local rail traffic within the state. The Ministry of Transport in Thuringia, led by Susanna Karawanskij, raises concerns that the proposed track charge increase could hinder the transport transition.
