The German rail network is considered to be in need of renovation: Deutsche Bahn therefore wants to comprehensively modernize the network in the coming years. According to a media report, every third station is to be renewed by 2030.
By 2030, Deutsche Bahn plans to renovate every third train station. This is reported by the dpa news agency, citing railway circles. These so-called train stations of the future would have to be brought into a condition that would meet the demands of customers, it said. There is agreement with the Federal Ministry of Transport.
The railway currently owns around 5,400 stations. 700 of them still have a reception building that also belongs to the railways. As part of the rail reform in the 1990s, many of the other buildings were sold. According to dpa, 1,800 train stations are now to be renovated by 2030 – including those where the buildings do not belong to the railways.
railway plans general renovations on main routes
More than two-thirds of customers would be reached with this restructuring plan. Some repairs will be carried out as part of the general renovation of particularly important routes. The first general renovation is scheduled for the second half of 2024 between Mannheim and Frankfurt, and dozens are to follow. The railways are planning to close an important route for six months as part of a general renovation, and then to renovate everything that needs to be renovated in one go – including numerous stations.
The railway network is considered to be in need of renovation. A rail condition report from Deutsche Bahn recently said: The condition of many often overaged routes in Germany is worse than in neighboring countries. The condition of the infrastructure is also a decisive factor for the currently weak punctuality values of the federally owned group.
According to the dpa, the railway assumes that the network will have significantly more capacity after the renovations and that ultimately more trains will be able to run reliably on it.
doubts from the industry
However, the industry itself also has doubts about Deutsche Bahn’s plans, for example because there is a lack of personnel for the rapid construction. There are also concerns about the construction strategy, in which hundreds of kilometers of main line are to be completely renovated in the future – instead of blocking individual tracks piece by piece. The entire detour traffic drives for months on routes that are not designed for it.
The heads of the traffic light coalition had determined at the end of March that the railways needed around 45 billion euros to cover the investment needs by 2027. This investment requirement should be covered “as far as financially feasible”. According to dpa, Deutsche Bahn intends to invest a total of 28 billion euros in infrastructure by 2026.