Travel through Germany for 49 euros or have a reliable train service in the long term? Finance Minister Lindner says: You have to decide. There are completely different proposals coming from Thuringia.
How long can people in Germany continue to travel around the country for 49 euros a month? Finance Minister Christian Lindner has reignited the debate about a price increase for the Deutschlandticket in view of urgent rail investments. “At some point, politicians will have to decide whether we want to invest in rail or whether the price should remain at 49 euros,” the FDP politician told “Welt am Sonntag”. Criticism has come from the coalition partner SPD.
There has been a long-standing dispute over the price of the Deutschlandticket. The federal and state governments each subsidize the service with 1.5 billion euros per year. The federal and state governments only guarantee the price for this year. The ticket could therefore become more expensive for users as early as 2025.
The passenger association Pro Bahn believes that a ticket should be ten euros more expensive than the border: “Politicians must not exaggerate with the price increase. The ticket must not be more expensive than 59 euros next year,” said federal chairman Detlef Neuß to WDR.
“Overpriced ticket” for broken tracks?
The SPD is confronting Lindner’s proposal: The Deutschlandticket is an “absolutely successful project,” SPD parliamentary group vice-chair Detlef Müller told the German Press Agency. “An important factor for this success is the planability and price stability of the offer. Neither of these must be put up for discussion in the context of the budget negotiations.”
Union parliamentary group vice-chairman Ulrich Lange (CSU) sees his fears confirmed that the funding for “the extremely cheap nationwide public transport ticket” is now lacking in the rail infrastructure. “It is of no use at all to provide a ticket if the rails are broken and the trains are not running,” said the opposition politician.
The railway needs many billions
The upcoming general renovation of the railway will require billions in investments from the cash-strapped federal government. By 2030, the company wants to completely renovate 40 heavily used routes in order to become more punctual and reliable again. Reducing the subsidy for the Deutschlandticket would therefore be just a drop in the ocean.
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow therefore has other ideas: In order to modernize the railway sustainably, he demands in the “Spiegel”: “At least 100 billion euros must be mobilized over ten years to modernize the core of the railway.” When asked whether he would call for a special fund like the one for the Bundeswehr, he said: “That would be my approach, yes. But it should be a solution independent of the federal budget.” The special fund mentioned is a credit-financed special pot of 100 billion euros, which is intended to better equip the Bundeswehr against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.
A few months ago, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) had already proposed an infrastructure fund to finance the railways, in which financial resources for railways, roads and waterways would be pooled for several years. Private investors would also be involved. However, this plan has not yet been implemented.
Higher prices and fewer connections are threatened
In view of the unclear financing conditions, Ramelow criticized the impending thinning of the route network, which the “Spiegel” newspaper had recently reported on. Instead of more train traffic, Deutsche Bahn is therefore facing higher ticket prices and fewer connections on routes that are not in high demand. According to the state-owned company, the reason for this is the planned increases in track access charges, which could make long-distance train travel significantly more expensive from 2025 onwards. Deutsche Bahn also emphasized, however, that there are “currently no concrete plans to cancel” the connections mentioned in the “Spiegel”.
Source: Stern
