General renovations at Deutsche Bahn: Too many construction sites, too little money

Deutsche Bahn needs more time than expected to renovate the rail infrastructure. Originally, work on around 40 important routes was supposed to be finished in the early 2030s - but now Evelyn Palla, head of DB AG, said that the so-called corridor renovations could last until the 2040s. Train travelers are still required to be patient; The construction work is intended to make the rail reliable in the long term, but in the short term it creates restrictions.

The plan was to completely close four highly utilized routes per year and repair several parts of the infrastructure in one go. After years of underfunding, the rail network is dilapidated and the cause of many delays.

Now the railway under Palla has put the concept of general renovations to the test - and it has become clear that four pieces in one year don't work, said Palla. For the future, the railway boss expects two to three renovations per year, also for financial reasons: “We will adapt the number of corridor renovations per year to the financing volume.” In order to make the infrastructure fit, the federal government set up a special fund. However, associations criticized it at the beginning of the week for not budgeting enough money for rail.

The Berlin-Lehrte connection, which will be completely renovated from October, is also causing trouble. On Wednesday, the DB announced that the Lehrter Stammbahn, which runs next to the high-speed line and was intended as an alternative route, will not be electrified until the end of 2027 - a year later than planned.

From December 2026, long-distance trains between Berlin and Hanover will be rerouted via Magdeburg and Braunschweig, and the journey time will be extended by 80 minutes. Freight trains can also run via Halle-Eichenberg from January - and yet the freight railway association announced that it would “outright” reject the plans presented. The diversion was “irresponsible”.

The ecological transport club VCD takes a similar view when it comes to the delayed corridor renovations. “A delay would send the completely wrong signal,” said Federal Chairwoman Christiane Rohleder. Above all, the federal government must “urgently provide the necessary funds so that four corridors can continue to be renovated every year”. Problems with previous renovations are also due to a lack of funding releases from the federal government, which “wants to save on the backs of passengers and shippers”.