Rail freight in Germany has remained in a weak phase in 2025, according to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), because structural hurdles have not been overcome. The industry association reported in Berlin on Tuesday that the transport volume was about 133.9 billion tonne‑kilometres, which is below the level seen in 2016. VDV president Ingo Wortmann said that the pandemic‑related peaks in the market are gone and that a harsh intermodal competition now prevails. Among the challenges cited are economic stagnation, higher tariffs, bureaucratic hurdles and rising costs. In particular, short‑term decisions on rail tolls and a lack of reliability in subsidy schemes are problematic.
At the same time, the association noted that network bottlenecks have intensified. The condition of the rail network has deteriorated, signal boxes have been rated poorly, and construction activity has risen sharply, affecting rail freight in both area and depth. The current construction and blocking situation has a noticeable operational impact. Wortmann explained that substantial additional costs arise from detours, extra traction, increased staffing and vehicle needs. If train lengths must be reduced and staff are no longer able to be deployed efficiently, productivity declines, leading to immediate losses in revenue and profitability.
While the industry welcomes the overall direction of corridor rehabilitation, it argues that full closures for freight traffic are often too rigid and that bypass routes are frequently not reinforced sufficiently. Wortmann stressed that planning capability, bypass flexibility, and fair cost sharing are essential. Rail traffic requires reliability and planability to be built and operated successfully. The VDV has developed proposals for improvement and presented them to policymakers, including securing bypass capacity and reviewing blocking concepts.
