The new Federal Transport Minister, Steffen Bilger (CDU), has announced that he will be reviewing and reassessing the corridor refurbishments currently being undertaken by Deutsche Bahn. Speaking to RTL and ntv on Thursday, Bilger stated that he has observed that these corridor renovations have not yielded the results that were anticipated.
While acknowledging that the overall concept may be sound and has contributed to progress in certain areas, the Minister stressed that a comprehensive re-evaluation is necessary. He further elaborated that the number of corridor closures and the resultant impact on the entire rail network must be scrutinized in great detail before a new assessment can be made.
Bilger made clear that if deadlines are not adhered to, action must be taken, suggesting that consequences might follow delays. He announced plans to discuss these issues with DB CEO Palla later that day.
Providing necessary context to the review, the rail subsidiary DB-Infrago recently agreed with the federal government to slow down the pace of the corridor refurbishments. Consequently, all projects are now expected to be completed by the mid-2030s, rather than the beginning of the next decade as previously hoped. Despite ongoing efforts, the backlog in rail network renovations has recently surged to 130 billion euros.
