Decisions
What has been decided – and what it is meant to do
Since March 2025 the Bundestag, the federal government and the EU have published a chain of decisions: a constitutional amendment, statutes, economic plans, budget lines, funding programmes and regulations. Each document is listed here with its reference, core content and purpose – the purpose in the words of the explanatory memorandum.
€500 bnspecial fund under Art. 143h of the Basic Law, approved within twelve years
€22.0 bnfrom the special fund for transport in 2026, after €11.7 bn in 2025
€16.3 bnof which in 2026 for maintaining the federal railway lines
€2.45 bnin 2026 for ERTMS – in infrastructure and rolling stock
13corridor renewals 2027–2031 instead of 21 so far (BMV, 9 Oct 2026)
As of 23 October 2026. 2025/2026 totals from the three transport lines in the BMF's simplified overview of the economic plans.
Germany: nine documents
From the constitutional amendment to the budget line. The right-hand column quotes what each document is meant to achieve.
| Document | Reference | What it says | What it is meant to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Law Art. 143h | 22 Mar 2025, BGBl. 2025 I No 94 | Special fund of up to €500 bn for additional investment in infrastructure and in climate neutrality by 2045; €100 bn for the Länder, €100 bn for the Climate and Transformation Fund; approvals within twelve years. | “… over many years an immense public investment backlog in digitalisation and infrastructure has built up.” (Bundestag printed paper 20/15096, own translation) |
| SVIKG | 30 Sep 2025, BGBl. 2025 I No 230 | Nine federal areas; additional only if the federal budget invests more than 10%; approvals by 31 Dec 2036; success control. | The fund “secures a long-term financing basis for investment in the modernisation of Germany”. Starting point: the “degree of modernity of the public capital stock” had been declining. (Printed paper 21/779, own translation) |
| LuKIFG | 20 Oct 2025, BGBl. 2025 I No 246 | €100 bn for Länder and municipalities by a fixed key; provider-neutral; from €50,000 per measure. | The Länder receive “€100 billion also for investment by the Länder in their infrastructure”. (Art. 143h(2) Basic Law, own translation) |
| Economic plans of the special fund 2025 and 2026 | adopted October 2025 and December 2025 | Transport 2026: €16.3 bn maintenance of rail lines, €3.25 bn federal trunk road bridges and tunnels, €2.45 bn ERTMS. | Budget line verbatim: “Equipping German infrastructure and rolling stock (trains, wagons) with the European train control system ERTMS” (own translation). |
| BSWAG § 11c – general renewal | 3 Jul 2024, BGBl. 2024 I No 224 | 41 high-performance corridors. Maintenance and replacement are bundled during “a one-off closure lasting several months”. | Infrastructure-related disruptions are to “fall by 80 per cent” – at the latest 100 days after reopening. (BMV, 9 Oct 2026, own translation) |
| BSWAG § 1(3) | current version | Upgrading, new construction and replacement of federal railway lines “is in the overriding public interest and serves public security”. | The weight of rail in planning and permitting trade-offs. |
| Infrastructure Future Act | 22 Jul 2026, BGBl. 2026 I No 224 | Easier planning and permitting, covering “also all transport infrastructure measures financed from the special fund”. | “The central aim of the act is to significantly increase the efficiency of planning and approval procedures in general and in particular for transport and energy.” (Printed paper 21/4099, own translation) |
| Truck toll, BFStrMG §§ 3 and 11 | current version | The toll rate includes a component for the cost of CO₂ emissions. Half of the revenue is earmarked for federal trunk roads. | The rest is to be used “predominantly for measures relating to federal railway lines”. (§ 11(3), own translation) |
| Coalition agreement 2025 | CDU, CSU and SPD | Political declaration of intent, not law. | “We want to shift more freight from road to rail.” (own translation) |
What the federal budget sets aside for rail freight
Budget lines in section 12 of the federal budget, in € million.
| Line (wording, shortened) | Budget 2026 | Budget 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Grants to private companies for investment in combined transport | 90.3 | 92.7 |
| Investment grants … sidings and other rail freight facilities | 30.0 | 30.0 |
| Reduction of rail freight track access charges | 265.0 | 275.0 |
| Support for single wagonload traffic | 300.0 | 300.0 |
| Reduction of rail freight facility charges | – | 35.0 |
What that means: the money goes to terminals and sidings, track access costs and single wagonload – access to the network and the cost of using it. Support for facility charges is no longer in the 2026 budget.
General renewal: the new schedule
On 9 October 2026 the BMV and DB InfraGO slimmed down the sequence: 13 instead of 21 corridor renewals from 2027 to 2031. “No corridor renewals are cancelled, only postponed” (own translation). The sequence from 2032 follows next year.
| Year | Corridors |
|---|---|
| 2027 | Lehrte – Berlin · Rosenheim – Salzburg · Fulda – Hanau |
| 2028 | Köln – Koblenz · München – Rosenheim (1) · Hagen – Unna – Hamm · Lübeck – Hamburg |
| 2029 | Hamburg – Hannover · Würzburg – Ansbach – Treuchtlingen · Aachen – Köln |
| 2030 | Stendal – Magdeburg · Uelzen – Stendal |
| 2031 | Lehrte – Groß Gleidingen · München – Rosenheim (2) |
- ETCS becomes standard: ETCS is in principle to be prepared and installed during corridor renewals. The later switch to “ETCS Level 2 without signals” “can take place once the vehicle fleets have largely been retrofitted” (own translation).
- Diversions for freight: for Lehrte – Berlin a second diversion route for freight will be available from February.
- First results: on Nuremberg – Regensburg infrastructure-related disruptions have “fallen by more than 90 per cent”. Obertraubling – Passau and Troisdorf – Wiesbaden reopen in mid-December 2026.
Europe: seven dossiers
The TEN-T Regulation (EU) 2024/1679 is covered under Rail & combined transport. These are the dossiers added since.
| Document | Status October 2026 | Core | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission's Greening Freight package | proposals of 11 Jul 2023 | Weights and dimensions, rail capacity, emissions accounting; plus the revision of the Combined Transport Directive. | “… cutting transport emissions by 90% by 2050 …” – without holding back the single market. |
| Capacity Regulation (EU) 2026/1184 | adopted | Train paths are allocated with European coordination. Until now: “decided annually, nationally and manually”. | Cross-border freight: “around 50% of rail freight crosses borders”. |
| CountEmissionsEU, Regulation (EU) 2026/1030 | adopted | Common method for the greenhouse gas accounting of transport services. | – |
| Revision of the Combined Transport Directive, 2023/0396(COD) | proposal; in Parliament “Awaiting committee decision” | Support for operations that cut external costs by at least 40% compared with road-only transport. | Make intermodal transport more competitive. |
| Revision of weights and dimensions, 2023/0265(COD) | Parliament has adopted its position; Council's first-reading position pending | Revision of Directive 96/53/EC. | Part of the Greening Freight package. |
| Connecting Europe Facility, transport | 2024 call, awarded 07/2025 | €2.8 bn for 94 projects; 77% goes to rail. | Building out the TEN-T. |
| Commission's military mobility package | proposal | Faster movement of equipment and personnel across borders. | The Commission's finding: “Transport capabilities, such as flatbed wagons and Ro-Ro ferries, remain scarce.” |