Railway stations in Germany: Private stations: How they can be saved from decay

Deutsche Bahn no longer has any control over most of the almost 2,900 station halls in Germany. After the federal group sold many reception buildings in the 2000s and 2010s, he no longer even belongs to a quarter of the real estate, as an evaluation of the Allianz Interest Association shows. A little more than one fifth are in municipal possession, more than half belong to private owners. The buildings are often left to decay – but there are also initiatives that are against it.

More than 80 percent private train stations in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

The private property of train stations is particularly widespread in East Germany, as the evaluation of the association further shows. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is the leader. More than 100 of the approximately 130 station buildings belong to private owners – a share of more than 80 percent. In Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, the ownership of the stations are similar. The exception is Berlin. Here almost all of the 100 train stations of Deutsche Bahn or its owner, the federal government, are still part of here.

The train once sold the station halls dozen times. Most passed into municipal hands. But private buyers also struck. In some cases, they bought train stations in entire packages, in order to then sell them individually, as the Allianz per rail determined. The association criticizes that there is therefore no overview of who the buildings belong in detail.

Not every train station in Germany has a reception building. The Deutsche Bahn owns around 5,700 stops nationwide that are approached by trains.

Bahn has now stopped sale

Private owners usually convert the buildings for private or commercial purposes and not for classic rail operations. In many places you will leave you to decay. One of many examples of this is the Malchow station in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which has been out of operation for many years and is redet.

A few years ago, the railway stopped the sale. Only almost 700 reception buildings are in their possession. The inventory is now to be gradually renovated in the course of the so -called general renovation – a total of 200 by 2027. However, the group does not plan to buy back train stations.

The Allianz Pro Schiene therefore demands incentives for private and municipal owners to maintain the train stations for rail transport or to make them fit again. “The turnover of the traffic includes that we have train stations for more train travelers,” said Association Managing Director Dirk Flege. “This also means attractive reception buildings that meet the needs of travelers.” Financial and organizational support is needed to develop and implement appropriate usage concepts. The federal government is particularly duty here.

Regional initiatives want to support owners

There are currently initiatives for this at the regional level – for example from the Berlin -Brandenburg Transport Association (VBB). With the “Competence Center Bahnhof”, it has created a portal on which interested owners also find contacts and support in the further development of the buildings in the sense of rail transport. A dozen Brandenburg best practice examples on the portal show how it can be.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, the so-called railway area development company serves as a contact for interested owners. The model there has produced “countless excellent examples of urban planning and traffic attractiveness, which may be considered essential building blocks of a successful turnaround,” it says. Such initiatives urgently need to be strengthened and supported, the Allianz demands per rail.