DB InfraGo warns about network agency decision to allocate capacity to competitors

The federally owned company argues that the decision by the Network Agency (BNetzA) will significantly increase the number of conflicts over the use of certain routes at certain periods. This would create legal and practical problems for the management of the route capacities by InfraGo.

Italian railway company Italo before entering the market

On July 17, the Federal Network Agency decided that DB InfraGo must allocate at least a quarter of the capacity on heavily used routes to competitors. This therefore applies to heavily utilized corridors with designated capacity limits, such as those planned for the Munich and Frankfurt nodes. The background to the regulation is the planned market entry of the Italian railway company Italo into German long-distance transport from 2028.

According to the information, the trains are the Siemens Velaro Multi System. These are structurally and visually closely related to the ICE 3 and ICE 3 Neo trains of Deutsche Bahn. According to Italo, the vehicles are manufactured in the Siemens factory in Krefeld. In addition, a maintenance contract with a 30-year term was concluded with Siemens. The maintenance should take place in Dortmund.

In total, Italo is investing around 3.6 billion euros to enter the market. In addition to the procurement and maintenance of the trains, this also includes expenses for hiring and training around 2,500 employees as well as investments in stations and IT infrastructure. "We want to offer passengers in Germany a larger selection, more frequent connections, fair prices and high-quality service," said Italo boss Gianbattista La Rocca.