The new German government coalition will invest “considerably more in the railways than in the roads”. The SPD, Greens and FDP presented their plans in a coalition agreement on Wednesday, including plans to lower infrastructure fees for more competitiveness, accelerate Digital Automatic Coupling, strengthen single-wagon traffic and promote combined transport terminals. Furthermore, as two of the parties proposed, Deutsche Bahn will not be split up into separate entities.
With a coalition agreement for Germany, the ‘traffic light’ parties, referring to their colours red, yellow and green, lay out their plans for the country, in which rail plays no small role. “For the first time, a coalition is committed to the principle of transport investment: “rail before road”, said Dirk Flege, Managing Director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, on Wednesday in Berlin. The non-profit Alliance welcomed the coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens and FDP as an “encouraging signal for a change in traffic”.
Rail freight on top of the agenda
The agreement focuses intensely on the enhancement of rail freight in Germany. The existing German plans for railways, as laid out in the Rail Transport Master Plan from last year, will be further developed and “implemented more quickly”. Rail freight transport should increase to 25 per cent by 2030. The target timetable of a “Deutschlandtakt” remains a goal, along with the needed infrastructure capacity. The use of rail infrastructure will become cheaper to strengthen the competitiveness of the railways, which looks like a reduction of track access charges.
On top of that, the coalition promises more. The introduction of Digital Automatic Coupling in terminals will accelerate, while single-wagon transport will see more investments. Simultaneously, it aims to provide more investment incentives for train sidings. For new commercial and industrial areas, rail connections are to be made mandatory. Combined transport terminals will also be promoted, as well as the craneability of standard semi-trailers. Finally, inward and outward journeys up to a maximum of 50 kilometres will be exempted from the truck toll.