GERMANY: Every freight operator that answered a survey by two German rail associations said operational quality at infrastructure manager DB InfraGO has deteriorated since the merger. Their second joint assessment gives the company the mark “ungenügend” – insufficient.
Mofair, Die Güterbahnen and the passenger association Pro Bahn presented the assessment at their event “Mission Gemeinwohl” in Berlin. The survey behind it was carried out by the two operator associations, which are themselves parties in the dispute over track access charges. Its method and figures are theirs.
DB InfraGO was formed on 1 January 2024 by merging DB Netz and DB Station&Service into a company the federal government describes as public-interest oriented. The performance agreement that will govern it, the Leistungsvereinbarung InfraGO, is due to reach the Bundestag in November.
What the survey found
Thirty-six companies answered. The associations do not say how many of them were freight operators. Across the whole group, they report:
One company said operational quality had improved since the merger.
No company said overall performance had improved since 2024, and more than three quarters saw it decline further.
Two thirds said network capacity had fallen.
Operators rated planning and reliability of construction works poor (44%) or very poor (50%).
One company in 10 rates the value it gets for its track access charges as satisfactory, against just over a third before the merger, the associations say. They count cases brought before the regulator, Bundesnetzagentur, at just over 10 in 2024, more than 20 in 2025 and more than 20 in the first eight months of 2026.
The cases against the regulator
The infrastructure manager is meanwhile in court against its own regulator on several fronts. It is challenging the cap Bundesnetzagentur has set on its total costs for 2027, seeking to add EUR 230m to the cost base from which that year’s track access charges are calculated. It is also appealing the regulator’s Italo decision on path allocation in long-distance passenger services.
DB InfraGO’s legal costs in these proceedings come to roughly EUR 1m since 2024, according to a written answer from the federal transport ministry in August that the associations cite.
The ministry’s reply
Ulrich Lange, parliamentary state secretary at the federal transport ministry, told the event that the current state of the rail infrastructure is “nicht akzeptabel” – not acceptable – and that construction-site management needs a marked professionalisation. His remarks are reported by the train drivers’ union GDL, which attended the event.
The ministry also intends to review the corridor renovations and advance the performance agreement this year, according to the same account. GDL backed the associations’ demands and went further, calling for the infrastructure to be taken out of the DB group altogether.
What the associations want
The associations have put their demands to the federal government and the Bundestag while the performance agreement is still being drafted. That document sets out what the government requires of DB InfraGO and what it pays for.
Their demands include:
A dedicated federal steering body for rail infrastructure, which Die Güterbahnen wants set up as a “Bundesamt für Schieneninfrastruktur”.
Public reporting on each renovation corridor, with critical path and dates.
Multi-year financing of the network instead of annual budgets.
Track access charges reformed towards marginal cost.
Involvement of network users in the revision of the corridor programme and in the performance agreement.