The situation concerning Track Access Charges (TAC) in Germany seems to be going from bad to worse, especially for the rail freight sector. After a planned increase of 16.2 per cent starting from December 2024 and continuing for 2025, there could be an even greater increase in 2026. According to the German association Die Güterbahnen “track access fees could rise by 50 per cent in one fell swoop at the end of 2025”.
This new increase might occur because the revenue of DB InfraGO, the German infrastructure manager, will increase from 6,7 billion euros in 2025 to up to 8,1 billion in 2026. The company “has submitted a corresponding application for approval to the Federal Network Agency and thus appears like a hungry track access fee monster that eats up its customers”, Die Güterbahnen stated.
The association also pointed out that the increase in 2026 might not be the end of the road, meaning that TAC might keep increasing in the following years at problematic rates. The main problem is that, when DB InfraGO receives capital increases from the German government, the possible share of profit that the company can claim from TAC rises too. In concrete terms, the price for 2026 could rise to 4.83 euros per kilometre, while in 2025 it will be at 3.73.
The lawsuit and the role of DB InfraGO
The 16.2 per cent TAC increase in Germany has already led to a lawsuit from 11 rail companies against the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). The companies are trying to prevent the TAC increase for 2025. TAC increases in Germany are more problematic for the freight sector because, for local passenger services, they are capped. In other words, freight trains and long-distance passenger convoys have to take up the bigger burden.
Interestingly enough, one of the 11 companies involved in the lawsuit is DB InfraGO. Thus, the company seems to agree with the rest of the German rail industry, claiming that the increase planned for 2025 is a significant burden. On the other hand, the same company has now submitted an application for an even higher TAC in 2026, which some consider as counterintuitive. It is now up to the German Federal Network Agency to approve, or not, DB InfraGO’s latest initiative.
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