The German rail association Allianz pro-Schiene expressed its worries about the significant cuts expected in the rail freight sector from the 2024 federal budget. “All in all it is about 252 million euros less for rail freight in 2024, if plans won’t change”, a spokesperson from the association told RailFreight.com.
The cuts will concern support for single wagonload (SWL) traffic, subsidies for track access charges and funds for technological developments. The German federal budget is weeks away from being officialised, with a consultation held by budget experts in the Parliament yesterday, 11 January. “Next week, probably on 18 January, the state budget will be settled and then will be finally discussed in the Bundestag between 29 January and the 2 February”, the spokesperson said.
As they explained, the SWL sector is expected to lose 65 million euros compared to 2023, which is a 76 per cent drop. The money will be taken from the so-called Anlagenpreisförderung, a programme meant to finance part of the costs regarding the usage of rail freight facilities. Moreover, subsidies for track access charges (Trassenpreisfoerderung) expenses will be reduced by 170.7 million euros, 49 per cent less than last year. Finally, the Future of Rail Freight Transport (Zukunft Schienengüterverkehr) programme aimed at funding innovative technologies will decrease by 16.3 million euros, a 39 per cent dwindle.
‘A multi-year plan is necessary’
The Allianz pro-Schiene association pointed out the need for a multi-year fund solution. “The Bundestag’s budget managers should make substantial improvements here, otherwise climate protection in transport will be dramatically slowed down”, they stressed. Another issue highlighted by the association is the investment backlog in the German rail network. “This has to do with the verdict on the „Klima- und Transformationsfonds“ (climate and transformation fund) in November 2023. The judges decided it is not legal to shift or rededicate money that was supposed for Covid aids to climate measurements”, the spokesperson underlined. This created a gap of 60 million euros that the government still needs to fill, as the funds were planned for urgent rail infrastructure projects.
One of the solution proposed by the government was to increase Deutsche Bahn’s equity capital for investments in railway infrastructure. This would occur through the sale of the state’s shares of German Post and Telekom. However, the spokesperson pointed out that it is difficult to predict how much money this would generate and how long the process would be. “Therefore, it is very insecure, as the modernisation of railway infrastructure needs reliable finances and planning. A better solution would be to further reduce climate-damaging subsidies.”, they concluded. On the other hand, the government does not seem to be too keen on implementing a multi-year plan. A spokesperson from the German Ministry of Transport said to German media Tagesspiegel that they cannot see the advantages of such a measure.
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