Pro-Rail Alliance reacts to German cabinet’s 2011 budget proposals

Berlin. The German Pro-Rail Alliance has reacted with cautious optimism to the federal cabinet's proposed budget for 2011. "When it comes to rail infrastructure, the 2011 budget remains around one billion Euros short of the necessary five billion that it requires. However, federal transport Minister Peter Ramsauer has actually managed to slightly increase the budget for improvements and new railway projects. That doesn't include money from economic stimulus programmes. The minister fought for the railways, and the cuts to his ministry's budget demanded by the finance minister have been made in other places," said the managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, Dirk Flege, on Thursday in Berlin.

According to Pro-Rail Alliance calculations, 1.28 billion Euros will be available in the coming year for the expansion and new construction of railway lines and rail cargo terminals. "That is an increase of 2.4 percent in comparison with the budget for 2010 (1.25 billion Euros). In times of debt reduction and general efforts to save money, that is a respectable result for the minister. At the end of December 2009 he had announced a massive expansion of the railway network," said Flege.

The Pro-Rail Alliance was also satisfied that income from the motorway tolls on heavy goods vehicles would be spent across all modes of transport. Flege: "Contrary to an earlier announcement by Minister Ramsauer that income from charges on HGVs would be spent exclusively on constructing federal main roads, the money from road charges will in 2011 once again be spent on the transport modes road, rail and inland waterways, creating alternatives to the ever increasing volume of road freight. This is very welcome news, especially since the federal government's budget plans for the coming years require Deutsche Bahn to pay 500 million Euros from its profits annually towards the federal budget, which is equally available to all three modes of transport."

Federal budget for investments in rail infrastructure

Spending on the rail network in 1,000 Euros