Federal Transport Minister Bilger is committed to the return of family reservations

According to a report, Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger is committed to reintroducing discounted family reservations on long-distance rail trains. “We are in discussions with the railways about this,” the CDU politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

Deutsche Bahn abolished family reservations in June 2025. Until then, families could reserve up to five seats together for 10.40 euros. Since then, each place has to be paid for individually, which can significantly increase the costs for families. The decision sparked massive criticism from politicians and passenger associations. A petition for the reintroduction started by the German Transport Club was signed by more than 128,000 people.

Bilger criticized the decision

Bilger said there was “rightly a lot of dissatisfaction” because of the loss of family reservations. "That's why I criticized it at the time." Bilger has only been Federal Transport Minister since the end of July. There has also been a change at the top of the railway since the decision in July 2025. Evelyn Palla has been leading the group since the end of September 2025.

“Completely inadequate”

Bilger described the current condition of the railway as “completely inadequate”. The CDU politician also saw the problems with the railways and transport infrastructure as a factor in citizens' dissatisfaction. “I can see a certain connection there,” he said when asked about a possible connection with the CDU’s poor performance in the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt. Since taking office, he has been asked most often about the problems at the railway. Long construction times for transport projects also caused dissatisfaction.

Investments in renovation and maintenance would improve punctuality in the long term, even if construction sites initially led to further delays. Once the work is completed, Bilger was convinced that this would lead to more punctuality.