Anyone who uses rails has to pay for it. But this is set to become significantly more expensive from next year. Some transport companies have now had enough.
Several transport companies are taking legal action against the fact that they will soon have to pay significantly more money for using the rail network. According to dpa information, both a number of freight rail companies and several subsidiaries of Deutsche Bahn have sued against price increases approved by the Federal Network Agency. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” first reported about it.
The background is changes in the so-called route prices. These are due for all railway companies that handle traffic via rail. The money will be used for maintenance. The fees are now paid to the new DB company InfraGo. The company recently announced that it would increase fees by an average of around six percent for 2024 and 2025.
Long-distance and freight transport have to pay enormously more
These increases had to be approved by the Federal Network Agency. The problem: Although regional transport is responsible for most rail traffic, it is only allowed to be burdened to a small extent due to legal regulations. The network agency only approved an increase of 0.6 percent in route prices for this segment.
Long-distance and freight transport will therefore be asked to pay disproportionately in the coming year. Route prices for freight transport are expected to increase by 16.2 percent and for long-distance transport by 17.7 percent.
DB subsidiaries are suing themselves
Deutsche Bahn announced that InfraGo itself and its subsidiaries DB Cargo and DB Fernverkehr had filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit because of the increase. “The price increases in the route pricing system planned for 2025 will create one-sided and unsustainable burdens for all railway companies (RUs) in long-distance and freight transport,” said a railway spokeswoman.
In addition, eleven freight rail companies jointly filed a lawsuit with the Cologne Administrative Court. “We are supposed to pay a lot more money for less performance. The condition of the network has not improved and the obstacles in the network are getting bigger and bigger due to more and more construction sites. This means that the operating costs of the railway companies are increasing anyway,” said the chairman of the freight railway industry association.
The lawsuits are formally directed against the Federal Network Agency, which initially did not take a position when asked at the weekend. The Ministry of Transport said that the federal government was “keeping a close eye” on the effects of the price adjustment on local, long-distance and freight transport. In the current budget negotiations, intensive efforts are being made to “secure funds in the short term to subsidize route prices in long-distance passenger and freight transport.” In the long term, consideration would also have to be given to fundamentally revising the route pricing system.
Source: Stern
