Rail Customer Association: Government continues to neglect rails

The draft Federal Budget Act 2022 presented is apparently the result of a traffic policy of "business as usual," claims the German Rail Customer Association (DBV). At the beginning of their term, coalition partners were still in agreement that rail and bus transport should be comprehensively and permanently strengthened. Another promise was that the investment backlog built up over decades should be eliminated in the coming years. Specifically, the number of passengers in rail passenger transport was to be doubled by 2030, and the volume of freight on the railways was to be significantly increased.

None of this is backed by money for necessary investments in infrastructure and for transport orders, criticizes the DBV. The federal government consisting of SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens and FDP has quietly consigned its traffic, climate, and environmental policy goals from the coalition agreement to the wastepaper bin after a good 100 days.

According to government plans, there will be significantly less money for the transportation sector. The rail sector bears the largest share of the cuts, with nearly three billion euros less available. The investment sum for the federal highway network, on the other hand, remains roughly at the previous year's level. The DBV criticizes that the federal government has apparently decided to continue to leave the problems unaddressed.

"Nothing remains of the originally so successful new beginning in the media. For the transportation sector in the budget bill, the DBV notes: there is no talk of progress or of daring anything 'new'," summarizes the DBV.