Regional railways: Transport Minister: The federal government must pay more for regional transport

Berlin/Kiel. Millions of rail travelers are threatened with cuts to timetables and higher ticket prices in rail transport in the coming years. The most important reason is the sharp increase in fees that transport companies have to pay to the railway subsidiary DB InfraGo for using the rail network, the so-called route prices. Transport ministers from the federal states are therefore taking a stand against the federal government, which, in their view, is shirking its responsibility for functioning local transport.

“The situation in local transport remains serious,” said North Rhine-Westphalia’s Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) to the German Press Agency (dpa). “The federal government has stood by for too long instead of ensuring reliable financing in a timely manner.” In North Rhine-Westphalia, no trains will be canceled in 2027 because of route prices, said Krischer. “But one thing is clear: no country can cope with this alone in the long term.”

"We now have to absorb eight percent increases for the coming year. That's money that no one has," said the Bavarian department head Christian Bernreiter (CSU) to the "Bild" newspaper. “After 2028, we in Bavaria will also be in trouble.” Bernreiter is chairman of the conference of federal and state transport ministers, which meets on Wednesday and Thursday in Hohenschwangau, Bavaria.

Schleswig-Holstein had already canceled trips on almost all lines two years ago as a result of reduced federal subsidies, thus reducing the offer by a total of 1.5 percent. “Two years ago we were able to limit cancellations to off-peak times at night or on weekends,” said Transport Minister Claus Ruhe Madsen (CDU) to the dpa. If Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) leaves the states alone with the escalating route prices, there will soon be a risk of cancellations many times over.

Schleswig-Holstein wants to use a reform proposal to ease the burden on the states in financing expensive regional rail transport. As can be seen from a paper available to dpa, certain railway infrastructure costs should no longer be financed through route prices. In particular, investment-related costs should instead be financed from the federal budget in the future and not through rising route prices.

The states are currently paying off the deficits, said Madsen. "It's the same as if a bar owner, in addition to beer and currywurst, also adds the rent for his private apartment and the desired tip to the bill - depending on how solvent he thinks his guests are. And even though the guests don't know what their bill will cost, they would also have to reserve a place in the bar months in advance."

Madsen's North Rhine-Westphalian colleague Krischer calls the current financing system “bureaucratic madness”: The states receive regionalization funds from the federal government, which they pass on to authorities and transport companies. “They transfer more than half of this back to the federal government as route fees via DB InfraGo,” Krischer told the dpa. “No one can explain to me why we in Germany pump billions of public funds around in circles with high bureaucratic costs.”

Madsen refers to the political consensus anchored in the so-called Railway Regulation Act in 2016, according to which, as route prices rise, the federal government's regionalization funds also increase to the same extent. "And it is precisely this basic consensus that has apparently been history since March. Consequently, the federal government should now get the organization of local rail passenger transport back."

He is aware that this is not possible without a change to the Basic Law. However, it is at least “worthy of discussion as to whether the Federal Constitutional Court could not even check to what extent the federal government is still fulfilling its constitutional mandate to adequately finance local transport.”

In their demands, the ministers of the federal states refer to the declaration of intent of the black-red federal government in their coalition agreement. It says: “We are reforming the route pricing system.” In order to strengthen local public transport (ÖPNV), the financing will be placed on a new legal basis. However, the federal government sees no scope for more money. Bernreiter complained: "Unfortunately, Berlin is turning a deaf ear at the moment. We are demanding a conversation with the Federal Minister of Finance. This request for a conversation has so far been rejected."

The background to the conflict is a ruling by the European Court of Justice, which overturned the so-called train path price brake in March, which exempted companies in local rail passenger transport from sharply rising train path prices. This rail toll is different for the three types of transport: freight, long-distance and regional transport. In local rail passenger transport, DB InfraGo wants an increase of 7.7 percent in 2027, and fees are expected to rise sharply again in 2028.