Germany will put only about 34.3 kilometres of new or upgraded rail line into service in 2026, according to an assessment by the private freight-rail association. That is below the 44 kilometres it reported for 2025 and 48.2 kilometres for 2024. The comparison matters because repairing an ageing railway is not the same as creating capacity for more trains.
Der Spiegel reported that the association puts the 2026 total at roughly one thousandth of DB InfraGo’s approximately 33,400-kilometre network. Its list includes a section of Berlin’s S21, part of the Rhine Valley Railway’s third- and fourth-track project, and several schemes in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The association also said only 2.6 kilometres between Chemnitz Hauptbahnhof and Chemnitz Süd would be electrified in 2026.
Maintenance has a clear case: worn track, stations and signalling must work reliably before the existing timetable can work reliably. Prioritising repairs is therefore not inherently misguided. But repairs principally restore or stabilise what already exists. Extra train paths depend on physical additions such as further tracks, passing opportunities and more capable junctions.
Peter Westenberger, the association’s managing director, argued that the federal government should make capacity expansion a priority alongside renewal. The reported three-year sequence gives that argument weight: low and declining openings do not suggest that substantial reserve capacity is being added. Yet the association represents private freight operators, so its criticism is an interested-party position. The supplied material contains no response from the federal government or DB InfraGo on the figures, delays or project priorities.
The 34 kilometres do not describe all German rail investment. They do expose a policy gap, however. Reliability renewal and capacity construction need to be judged together; a repair-first strategy alone cannot create additional routes for trains.
Sources
- Der Spiegel · Source date: 2026-11-10
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-10