The German railway and transport trade union EVG has spoken out about its vision for the future of German rail. It wants 80 billion euros for Deutsche Bahn (DB) from the new infrastructure investment package. The union is also vehemently opposed to CDU’s plans to separate infrastructure management from the company’s tasks.
Germany’s parliament approved amendments to the strict debt brake, which limits the amount of borrowing that Germany can do. The newly approved change excludes various types of funding from the rule. It also foresees a 500 billion euro (borrowed) fund for infrastructure. How much of that money Berlin will spend on rail is not clear, but ideas are plenty.
Deutsche Bahn, for its part, wants 146 billion euros from the infrastructure fund. That should cover approximately half of a total of 288 billion euros, which the company says it needs for infrastructure until 2034. However, EVG has other ideas about financing DB from the fund. It says that DB’s idea is unrealistic and keeps the number a bit more modest. The trade union wants 80 billion euros from the fund for DB, which would cover the renovation of old tracks, interlocking systems, and signalling systems.
Keeping DB together
Additionally, the trade union wants to prevent a breakup of the German national rail operator. It now functions as both an operator and the infrastructure manager, but election winner CDU (and the rail freight sector) are proponents of separating the latter task from the company.
In order to prevent CDU from pulling through with such a separation, EVG has invited it together with the SPD party and DB management to set up a task force. That is supposed to bring the parties together to discuss the future of the company openly and honestly, EVG says.
“With the task force, we as a union are signaling our fundamental willingness to tackle structural reforms at DB, but we are also emphasising that breaking it up will benefit no one,” says EVG head Martin Burkert, who is also a member of the Deutsche Bahn supervisory board. “Instead of solving the real problems facing the railway, we would paralyse ourselves with years of structural debates,” he says.