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Comparison of rail investments in Europe: network construction is booming
Comparison of rail investments in Europe: network construction is booming
Germany is being left behind by its neighbours
Berlin. Compared with other large industrialised countries in Europe, Germany invests too little in its rail network. In a ranking of European countries compiled by SCI Verkehr and the German Pro-Rail Alliance, Germany comes in well beaten near the bottom. The ranking lists the following per capita public investments in Europe's rail infrastructure in 2010: Switzerland tops the list with 308 Euros per citizen, followed by Austria with 230 Euros. For years, both Alpine countries have consistently spent higher sums of money on the rail networks than on their road networks. But other European countries are also making their networks fit for the future, with Sweden investing 164 Euros per capita and The Netherlands 159 Euros. In the UK (125), Spain (114), Italy (99) and France (90), politicians were also conscious of the need to strengthen their rail networks. Germany however, with public funding of 53 Euros per capita, is in danger of falling behind.
Per capita public investments in railway infrastructure
in selected European countries in 2010 (in Euros)
Left to right: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland
Source: Allianz pro Schiene (Pro-Rail Alliance) based figure from BMVBS (Germany), VöV (Switzerland), BMVIT (Austria), SCI Verkehr GmbH 'World-wide financial and investments budgets of the railways 2011'..
"The per capita figures are alarming and indicative of a worrying and unique course that Germany is taking," said Dirk Flege, managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance on Monday in Berlin. For years, the German federal state has spent many times more on the roads than on the railways, criticised Flege, and advised the German government to learn from the investment policies of its European neighbours. "The transit countries Switzerland and Austria are focused on being prepared for the coming boom in rail freight transport, whereas Germany is in danger of missing the opportunity to shift a large volume of freight transport off the roads and onto the railways." Flege called for public funding for the rail network to be increased quickly. "We need at least five billion Euros annually from central government so that we can at least get close to what Italy spends," added the rail alliance's general manager.
Public investment in rail infrastructure compared with the roads
in Europe's main transit countries in 2010 (spending on the roads = 100%)
Left to right: Germany, Switzerland, Austria
Source: Allianz pro Schiene (Pro-Rail Alliance), based on BMVBS, VöV, BMVIT..
"World-wide, rail construction is booming whereas willingness to invest in Germany, also in compared globally, ranks at the bottom of the scale," said Lars Neumann from the transportation consultants SCI Verkehr. "If we change our approach and look at state investments as a proportion of economic strength, instead of per capita investments, then the situation is even worse for Germany," said SCI's office manager. Europe's leading countries could easily keep up with the spending power of emerging economies such as China and Russia, whereas Germany has been left far behind. "Measured in economic strength, Germany is losing touch with the leaders in its peer group."
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