A report about possible rising ticket prices and cancelled connections is causing a stir, especially in eastern Germany. Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow has now made a suggestion.
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow has called for a special fund of 100 billion euros to modernize the railway. A lot of money is currently being invested in this, but the financing is unreliable, the Left Party politician told “Spiegel”. It is not enough to invest here and there. “At least 100 billion euros would have to be mobilized over ten years to modernize the core of the railway.”
When asked whether he was calling for a special fund like the one for the Bundeswehr, Ramelow said: “That would be my approach, yes. But it should be a solution independent of the federal budget.”
At the same time, Ramelow criticized the impending thinning of the route network, which “Spiegel” reported on this week. The magazine referred to a letter from Deutsche Bahn to the Federal Network Agency from the beginning of February. According to the report, Deutsche Bahn has already drawn up a list of long-distance connections that are to be thinned out or discontinued. According to this, the Intercity line 51 (Gera – Weimar – Erfurt – Gotha – Kassel – Dortmund – Cologne) could be completely canceled. The reason for this is the sharp rise in track prices for Deutsche Bahn (DB), which threatens to result in more expensive tickets and fewer connections.
The DB rejected the report on Wednesday: “There are currently no concrete plans to cancel the long-distance connections mentioned,” said Michael Peterson, the Deutsche Bahn board member responsible for long-distance passenger transport. Planning for the 2025 timetable was completed in April. This timetable currently does not include any of the service cuts mentioned. However, the Deutsche Bahn is forced to review the scope of the timetable nationwide due to the threat of cost increases due to higher track access prices.
Source: Stern
