National environment

DB Group

Coalition agreement of the new Federal Government

The coalition agreement between CDU, CSU and SPD contains numerous plans of relevance for the rail mode of transport. The implementation of key points is subject to funding possibilities. The main plans are:

• Capital expenditures in the German rail network are to be increased. The Infraplan is to be developed as a statutory control instrument and provided with a corresponding binding funding commitment (rail infrastructure fund). The train-path pricing system is to be reformed. Further measures to accelerate the planning and approval processes are to be implemented.
• In the medium term, the parties want to implement a fundamental rail reform. DB InfraGO is to be further unbundled within the integrated DB Group. Personnel, legal, and organizational measures must be taken to achieve this. DB Group’s internal labor market is to be retained.
• A new legal basis for the funding of local public transport is to be established with the Federal states, and a modernization pact is to be launched. There is to be an increase in the regionalization funds and the funds under the Municipal Transport Financing Act (Gemeindeverkehrsfinanzierungsgesetz; GVFG). The Germany-Ticket is to be continued beyond 2025, with the extent to which it is funded by users set to increase gradually and in a socially responsible manner from 2029.
• With regard to DB Cargo, a return to competitiveness and profitability in the short term is to be examined.
• In terms of energy and climate policy, the coalition wants to reduce the electricity tax for all to the European minimum and cap electricity grid fees.

Federal Ministry of Transport presents key points for the reform of DB Group

On September 22, 2025, Federal Minister Schnieder presented his “Agenda for Satisfied Rail Customers – Key points for the reform of Deutsche Bahn.” It sets out five Government objectives for DB Group:

• Noticeably improved reliability
• Lasting economic viability
• Greater public welfare focus
• Rapid implementation
• Effective governance

The agenda contains measures in three pillars to achieve the targets: 1. Reforms in DB Group, 2. Measures of the Federal Government, and 3. Activation of the whole sector. The reforms in DB Group include the simplification of processes and structures for more focus and greater efficiency, greater unbundling of DB Group and DB InfraGO, the creation of a clear financing structure, an effective organizational structure and the establishment of immediate action programs for a better travel experience and customer-focused corporate culture in DB Group. The Federal Government wants to align its management with the objectives and adapt legislation and regulation. The Federal Government has set up a “Reliable rail transport” task force to activate the sector.

Amendments to the German Basic Law to provide additional financial scope for debt

In March 2025, the German Parliament (Bundestag) and Upper House of Parliament (Bundesrat) passed an amendment to the German Basic Law to provide additional financial scope for debt. The law came into force on March 25, 2025. The changes concern three central points:

• Firstly, defense spending, Government spending on civil defense and civil protection, as well as for intelligence services, the protection of information technology systems, and aid for states attacked in violation of international law will no longer be subject to the debt brake if they exceed 1 % of gross domestic product (GDP).
• Secondly, the Federal states will be granted an annual debt leeway of 0.35 % of GDP in future.
• Thirdly, the option of establishing a special fund exempt from the debt brake “for additional capital expenditures in infrastructure and for additional capital expenditures to achieve climate neutrality by 2045” with a volume of up to € 500 billion and a term of 12 years has been put in place. Of this, € 100 billion is to be made available to the Federal states for capital expenditures. A further € 100 billion is to flow into the Climate and Transformation Fund (Klima- und Transformationsfond; KTF). The specific structure and establishment of the special fund will be governed by a separate law.

2025 Federal Budget and Special Funds for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality

Following resolutions by the German Parliament and Upper House of Parliament at the end of September 2025, the 2025 Federal budget and the Act on the Establishment of a Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality (Sondervermögen Infrastruktur und Klimaneutralität; SVIK) came into force at the beginning of October 2025 with retroactive effect from January 1, 2025. This also marked the end of the preliminary budget for 2025. The following funds appropriations have been set for rail in 2025:

• Funds of € 21.8 billion have been allocated for capital expenditures in Federal rail infrastructure for 2025. The appropriations for the existing network (€ 7.6 billion) and digitalization (€ 1.6 billion) were funded entirely from the SVIK, and the funds previously included in the budget of the Federal Ministry of Transport (Bundesministeriums für Verkehr; BMV) will be transferred to the SVIK. Another new source of funding is the defense budget, which included € 0.1 billion for defense-related requirement plan measures. The BMV’s budget included a further € 0.5 billion for requirement plan measures. Part of the capital expenditures in the Federal rail infrastructure were equity increases in the amount of € 8.5 billion and a loan of € 3 billion already included in the first Government draft.
• Support for rail transport amounted to € 0.8 billion in 2025: € 300 million for the support of single wagon transport, € 275 million for the train-path price support for rail freight transport and € 105 million for train-path price support for long-distance transport.

2026 Federal budget and financial plan until 2029

The German Parliament passed the 2026 Federal budget at the end of November 2025, followed by the Upper House of Parliamentʼs decision in December 2025. Funding for rail will continue at a high level with the 2026 Federal budget:

• € 21.9 billion is earmarked for capital expenditures in Federal rail infrastructure. Of this sum, just under € 18.8 billion is set to be financed from the SVIK for the existing network (€ 16.3 billion) and digitalization (€ 2.5 billion). The largest item in the transport budget is the financing of the requirement plan at €1.8 billion. Additional funds of almost € 0.6 billion are planned from the defense budget for this purpose. Equity increases and loans are no longer included in the 2026 Federal budget.
• Support funds for rail transport amount to € 0.9 billion in 2026. The train-path price support for long-distance transport is endowed with € 200 million. The train-path price support for freight transport amounts to € 265 million. The train-path price support can be increased during budget implementation by using penalty payments from DB InfraGO. € 300 million has been allocated for the support of single wagon transport, while the support for facility price system will be discontinued. The Federal budget item for the Federal program for rail freight transport will be expanded to include support for the digital automatic coupling (DAC) (€ 16 million) and will be renamed “Innovations in Rail Freight Transport.”

The allocations in the Federal budget and SVIK largely cover the necessary requirements for the rail infrastructure in 2026.

For 2027 to 2029, the Federal Government’s financial planning for infrastructure still envisages high capital expenditure budgets of about € 21 billion per year, albeit slightly lower than in 2025 and 2026. This does not yet cover all of the planned infrastructure requirements. In total, the capital expenditure funds for the Federal rail infrastructure for 2025 to 2029 amount to about € 107 billion, thereof about € 81 billion is to be financed from the SVIK.

Implementation of Measures of the Rail Acceleration Commission

At the end of 2022, the Rail Acceleration Commission presented its final report with specific recommendations to the Federal Government and the industry. Monitoring was concluded at the beginning of April 2025 with an implementation report on the Rail Acceleration Commission by the BMV. Out of 73 proposed measures, 42 were being implemented or had already been fully implemented at this date. A further 28 measures are in preparation, in some cases due to the premature end of the previous legislative period. The recommendations on emergency management, the simplification of infrastructure commissioning and species protection standards are to be implemented through ordinances or administrative regulations.

As part of the measures to reduce bureaucracy, the Federal Government passed the draft of the Infrastructure Future Act (Infrastruktur-Zukunftsgesetz; InfZuG) on December 17, 2025. This law is intended to further accelerate the planning and approval procedures for transport infrastructure projects.

Draft law to accelerate the awarding of contracts adopted

On August 6, 2025, the Federal Government passed the draft of a law to accelerate the awarding of public contracts (Public Procurement Acceleration Act (Vergabebeschleunigungsgesetz)). The draft includes, among other things, increased value limits for direct contracts for Government awards, reduced verification and documentation obligations, digitalized award and review procedures and a limited relaxation of the lot principle for capital expenditures with the funds of the time- limited SVIK. The draft also provides for the Federal Government to be authorized to issue an ordinance to develop the procurement law requirements for the procurement of climate-friendly products in a separate project.

Draft of Federal Collective Bargaining Compliance Act adopted

On August 6, 2025, the Federal Government passed a draft bill to strengthen the autonomy of collective bargaining by ensuring compliance with collective bargaining agreements when awarding Federal public contracts. The Federal Collective Bargaining Compliance Act (Bundestariftreuegesetz) aims to strengthen the functioning of collective bargaining autonomy, create fair competitive conditions and protect employees.

Draft Federal Police Act adopted

The amendment to the Federal Police Act (Bundespolizeigesetz) adopted by the Federal Government in the Cabinet on October 8, 2025, is intended to strengthen the Federal Police and adapt the law to technical developments and new threats. The Federal Police is a central component of the security architecture at stations.

Revision of the law on Intelligent Transport Systems

On October 29, 2025, the Federal Government passed a draft law to Revise the Legal Framework for Intelligent Transport Systems in Road Traffic and their Interfaces with other Modes of Transport (Gesetz zur Neuregelung des Rechtsrahmens für intelligente Verkehrssysteme im Straßenverkehr und deren Schnittstellen zu anderen Verkehrsträgern; IVSG). The new version is intended to implement the EU legal obligations to provide mobility data. In addition, the draft bill integrates provisions from the Mobility Data Act (Mobilitätsdatengesetz) of the last legislative period, including the provision of dynamic capacity utilization data in rail passenger transport as open data.

Passenger transport

Germany-Ticket

The price of the Germany-Ticket, which is valid nationwide for local public transport, was increased from € 49 to € 58 per month on January 1, 2025. The interim results after about two years show a high level of acceptance among customers and intensive use, with about 13.5 million monthly users. The ticket has increased the frequency of use and the distance traveled on local public transport.

At a special conference of transport ministers on September 18, 2025, the Federal Government and Federal states agreed to finance the ticket in the amount of € 1.5 billion each by 2030. This agreement was implemented as part of an amendment to the Regionalization Act (Regionalisierungsgesetz) passed by the German Parliament and Upper House of Parliament in November 2025. The amendment to the law came into force on January 1, 2026.

The ticket price was increased to € 63 as of January 1, 2026. From 2027, the price of the ticket will then be determined on the basis of a cost index to be developed, which will take into account wage and energy costs, for example.

Infrastructure

In addition to the events described above, such as developments relating to the Federal budget and the common good-oriented infrastructure, several legislative procedures relevant to the infrastructure sector are outlined below.

Amendment to Section 23 AEG

The regulation on the exemption of land from the purpose of rail operations in Section 23 of the General Railways Act (Allgemeines Eisenbahngesetz; AEG) was amended again. A corresponding amendment came into force at the end of July 2025 following a decision by the German Parliament and Upper House of Parliament. The change in the law means that exemptions in favor of other uses are once again more easily possible.

Amendment to the Railway Regulation Act to mitigate the rise in train-path prices

At the end of November 2025, an amendment to the Railway Regulation Act (Eisenbahnregulierungsgesetz; ERegG) to mitigate the increase in train-path usage fees of Federal railways came into force following a decision by the German Parliament and Upper House of Parliament. The primary aim is to reduce the increase in train-path prices resulting from the Federal Government’s equity injections. To this end, the interest rate on equity was set at 1.9 % in the law. Under the previous ERegG, capital market standards applied. In addition, the ERegG has been adapted so that maintenance grants from the Federal Government can have a direct effect on reducing train-path prices.

Strengthening critical infrastructures

There are two EU directives on strengthening resilience that have to be passed into national law: the CER Directive on the physical protection of critical infrastructures and the NIS2 Directive on strengthening cybersecurity. The Federal Government has submitted draft laws for this purpose. Both plans mean increasing requirements and obligations for DB Group, such as registration, risk assessment, verification and reporting obligations.

• KRITIS Umbrella Act: The Umbrella Act for Critical Infrastructure Protection (Gesetz zur Stärkung der physischen Resilienz kritischer Anlagen) aims to strengthen the physical security and resilience of operators. It is based on a so-called “all-hazards approach,” which helps to ensure supply reliability and public security even under extreme conditions. The law was passed by the German Parliament on January 29, 2026, and is expected to come into force in the first quarter of 2026 if approved by the Upper House of Parliament.
• NIS2 Implementation Act: The Act Implementing the EU NIS2 Directive and Strengthening Cybersecurity (Gesetz zur Umsetzung der EU-NIS2-Richtlinie und Stärkung der Cybersicherheit; NIS2UmsuCG) transposes the EU-wide minimum standards for cybersecurity into national law, comprehensively amends the previous Act on the Federal Office for Information Security (Gesetz über das Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik; BSI-Gesetz) and increases the number of regulated companies. Following approval by the German Parliament and Upper House of Parliament in November 2025, the law came into force at the beginning of December 2025.

Reduction of electricity costs in rail transport

To relieve the burden on electricity customers, the transmission system operators will receive a Federal grant of € 6.5 billion in 2026. According to the transmission system operators, this grant could reduce their fees by more than 50 %. This reduction in fees will also benefit electric rail transport on a pro rata basis.

Freight transport

Implementation of Master Plan for Rail Freight Transport

The implementation of the Master Plan for Rail Freight Transport is continuing. Important measures are the prorated funding of train-path and facility prices, the Federal Future of Rail Freight Transport program, the Funding Guidelines for Railway Sidings and the Combined Transport Funding Guidelines.

On January 1, 2025, the amended guideline for the Federal Future of Rail Freight Transport program to promote rail innovation (Zukunft Schienengüterverkehr; Z-SGV) came into force. The Z-SGV will run until the end of 2029 and is intended to bring ideas for modernization in rail freight transport in the areas of digitalization, automation and vehicle technology to application maturity and onto the market more quickly. € 20 million was available in the 2025 Federal budget and € 27.5 million is planned for 2026.

Support for single wagon transport

Support for operating expenses for single wagon transport in rail freight transport has been in place since 2024. € 300 million was available in the Federal Budget for 2024 and 2025. The budget for 2026 also includes € 300 million.