Italo tells Germany: decide by end of June or we pull back
GERMANY: Italo chief executive Gianbattista La Rocca has told Handelsblatt the Italian operator will not delay its planned 2028 entry into Germany — and that a Bundesnetzagentur decision on long-term track access must come by the end of June or the Siemens production slot is lost.
La Rocca said Italo has signed preliminary agreements with Siemens and already deferred production by ten months. Without a commitment from Bundesnetzagentur by the end of June, he said, “almost everything changes — timing, costs, strategy.”
Italo is demanding track access guarantees of ten to fifteen years, replacing Germany’s current annual allocation system. DB chief executive Evelyn Palla, speaking to the same newspaper, pointed to EU-level reforms due in 2031 and questioned whether introducing a new model shortly before that made sense.
EUR 25m invested, production on hold
Italo has invested more than EUR 25m in the German project so far. The company has already established a German subsidiary, Atrium SE, obtained a railway licence, and mapped a network covering 18 cities across two corridors — München–Köln–Dortmund and München–Berlin–Hamburg, with 50 daily services planned.
Bundesnetzagentur’s delay forced the ten-month production deferral. Italo’s total investment commitment stands at EUR 3.6bn — EUR 1.2bn for 26 Siemens Velaro trains and EUR 2.4bn for thirty years of maintenance and operations. La Rocca said postponing entry to 2031, when EU capacity rules are due to change, is not an option.
The access question Bundesnetzagentur cannot easily answer
Italo’s core demand — multi-year path contracts of ten to fifteen years — has no legal basis in the current German framework. DB InfraGO chief Philipp Nagl warned in late May that a clause reserving guaranteed capacity for new entrants would not survive a legal challenge. FlixTrain, he argued, would have both the standing and the commercial incentive to contest it.
Palla’s 2031 reference carries the same logic from a different direction: the EU Capacity Management Regulation, adopted in May 2026, restructures how track capacity is allocated across Europe, with the first timetable under the new system due in December 2030. Introducing a bespoke national model for Italo months before that framework takes effect puts whoever grants it at legal risk.
Bundesnetzagentur has not announced a date for its decision. The agency held a meeting with the parties on 22 May. La Rocca has now drawn the line: a commitment by the end of June, or the production window closes.