DB cuts corridor renovations to two or three a year
GERMANY: Deutsche Bahn will cut its Generalsanierung, the programme of full-corridor refurbishments, from four corridors a year to two. A third comes only where technical need is acute.
Chief executive Evelyn Palla set out the change to journalists in Berlin on 10 September. Four large closures a year pull too much capacity out of the network, she said, and the number of corridors will be matched to what the federal infrastructure fund makes available.
The revised concept is being aligned with the Federal Ministry of Transport and will be presented shortly. Palla declined to give a year for completion; DB has not issued a written statement.
Rail freight falls for a fourth year running
EU: Freight carried by rail across the EU fell 1.8% in 2025 to 368.2 billion tonne-kilometres, the fourth consecutive annual decline, according to Eurostat data published on 14 September. Volumes fell in 16 of the 24 member states with reported data and rose in eight.
Germany accounted for a third of the EU total with 123.5 billion tonne-kilometres, down from around 126 billion in 2024. Poland followed with 54.3 billion and France with 34.4 billion; the three markets together carry 57.5% of the EU’s rail freight.
Road freight grew over the same period. Eurostat’s release of 31 July put road haulage up 0.9% in 2025, and figures published on 29 July showed freight on inland waterways down 3.0%.
TGV M pushed to autumn as Italian launch slips to 2028
FRANCE: SNCF Voyageurs and Alstom have moved the TGV M’s commercial debut on Paris–Marseille from September to autumn 2026. SNCF Voyageurs has separately confirmed that the train’s domestic services in Italy will not start before the second quarter of 2028.
The two companies said in a joint statement that the train, cleared by the French and European safety authorities in May, works as intended overall. They are extending the final run-in phase to adjust comfort and on-board service; Alstom will carry out the changes in the coming weeks, after which SNCF Voyageurs runs a further series of test trips.
The Italian delay came in a statement to AFP. The 15 TGV M sets ordered for the Italian network will be neither delivered nor authorised in 2026, and will not be ready for the launch planned for September 2027.
Commission proposes European preference in procurement – and exempts rail services
EU: The European Commission has proposed a Public Procurement Act that lets public buyers favour European suppliers and restrict bidders from countries without reciprocal market access. Certain public transport contracts fall outside its scope, and industry association CER says rail services in liberalised markets are exempted.
The proposal replaces the three procurement directives from 2014 with a single regulation applying directly in all member states. Contracts are as a rule to be awarded on the best price-quality ratio rather than on price alone, and Regulation 1370/2007 on public passenger transport is amended in the same package.
CER said rail freight, high-speed, other commercial passenger services and public service obligation contracts are exempted when operated in a liberalised market segment, and has asked Parliament and Council to keep the exemptions.
Siemens to build locomotive service centre near Poznań
POLAND: Siemens Mobility will build a locomotive service centre in Gądki near Poznań, its first in the country. The 4,300 square metre depot is due to open in 2027 and will service up to seven locomotives at a time for fleets across Central and Eastern Europe.
The site, announced on 14 September, will have around 5 km of electrified track, an underfloor wheel lathe, a dropping table and a test area, and will cover work from scheduled inspections to major overhauls and accident repairs. Siemens has maintained locomotives in Poland for more than 15 years and says the new site will consolidate that work in one place.
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