Rail investments: requirements planning has 36 billion euro backlog

Berlin. For the current year, federal transport minister Peter Ramsauer from the CSU has signed the funding agreement for just one federal railway project. In 2010 he authorised five projects. This information, together with other details, was provided by the federal transport ministry in answer to a question put by the Green party. According to calculations made by the German Pro-Rail Alliance, there is now a 36-billion-euro backlog of priority railway projects that are listed on the requirements plan for federal transport infrastructure.  "If the federal government continues to authorise funding at this snail's pace and makes annual investments of just 1.2 billion euros as in the previous two years, then it will take another 30 years to work through the requirements list," said the managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, Dirk Flege, in Berlin.

The Pro-Rail Alliance pointed out that the during the recent review of requirements planning by the federal transport ministry, nine of the 38 railway projects were put "on hold" because their cost-benefit-ratios had developed unfavourably. This contrasts with road infrastructure, where all the projects that were originally given priority status in 2004 were waved through without being reviewed. "But even if these salami tactics could be accepted, there are still 27 railway projects pending, most of which are simply stagnating on a waiting list without any hope of realisation," criticised the railway alliance's managing director. He called for an improved punctuality record for the federal government's policy on rail investments.

Even projects that are very much in the public eye have been put into an "infinite holding loop" by the federal government, said Flege. These include the development of the Rhine line between Karlsruhe and Basel, the development of the railway hub between Emmerich and Oberhausen, the Rhine-Ruhr-Express (RRX) between Dusseldorf and Duisburg, and construction on the line Munich-Freilassing, which is needed by the local chemical industry.
Transport minister Ramsauer also has to improve his long-term annual average approval rate. With only one signed funding agreement for current construction projects, 2011 is markedly lower than the long-term average of 4.9 signed agreements.

Additional information (in German)