Rails and trains: Railway industry with light and shadow

Despite the increasing construction activity on the rails, the rail industry generated significantly less sales in the first half of the year. The train industry in particular declined, according to the Association of the Railway Industry in Germany. Overall, the industry’s revenues in the first half of the year were around 6.5 billion euros, it was said. That was 17 percent less than in the same period last year. The order situation has also deteriorated. Incoming orders fell by almost a third to around 8.3 billion euros.

In the infrastructure sector, however, things went well. Here, the federal government’s growing investments in the rail network, which is in need of renovation, gradually became noticeable. “This momentum must under no circumstances be slowed down now,” said association president Andre Rodenbeck. “The collapse of the government must not lead to a standstill on the railways, we cannot afford that.” Sales in the business area rose by around five percent to around two billion euros in the first half of the year. Orders even increased by 40 percent.

Lack of train orders from abroad

This year, there was a lack of large orders for rail vehicles from abroad, which had ensured high sales in the previous year. Revenues have now fallen by almost a quarter to around 4.5 billion euros. However, the underfunding of local rail transport is also noticeable, emphasized Rodenbeck. “The regionalization funds from which local rail transport is financed must be urgently increased in the spirit of the transport transition.”

He said that states and municipalities must be able to at least maintain their transport offerings and also prepare for growing passenger numbers.