Investments in the transport sector: Too little money for rail and climate protection

Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) is receiving more and more criticism for the transport budget planned for 2027. Associations and the opposition complain that there is a lack of funds for the rail network and bridge renovations - despite the special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality (SVIK). In particular, the items that could make transport more climate-friendly would be drastically reduced, even though the sector has been tearing down its climate targets for years.

The Bundestag is negotiating the federal budget for the coming year this week, and Bilger probably wants to present the transport budget on Tuesday.

In it, for example, he estimates 1.3 billion euros less than in 2026 for the renovation and expansion of the rail network, criticizes an alliance of associations led by the Climate Alliance Germany. Delays and cancellations not only caused problems for private travelers. There is also an increasing risk of delays in supply chains in industry.

As early as 2025 and 2026, the black-red federal government had shifted money from the classic transport budget to the loan-financed SVIK, which was actually intended to enable additional investments. Other items went to the climate and transformation fund or the budget of the Ministry of Defense.

Now the coalition wants to make the transport investments in 2027 look bigger than they actually are with new budget tricks, criticizes Swantje Michaelsen, transport policy spokeswoman for the Greens in the Bundestag. The pure transport budget has been halved since 2025.

“And the federal government is setting completely wrong priorities,” says Michaelsen. Investments in motorways would increase, while around 4.3 billion euros were missing to maintain federal roads until 2029. Black and Red also want to save money on electric buses and low-emission commercial vehicles – “even after this summer with heat, forest fires and extreme weather.”

The freight railway association also regrets that the so-called route price support is to be almost halved according to the draft budget. Recently, the route prices that train operators have to pay for using the rail network have been significantly increased several times; The funding, in turn, is intended to buffer the rising rail toll. Black and Red had promised a reform of the route pricing system, but that is still a long time coming.

And: The amount of bicycle transport is also expected to fall to around 544 million euros in 2027 - by almost 10 percent compared to 2026. The federal government wants to cut financial aid for municipal cycling projects and cycle paths on federal roads. A study by the Federal Ministry of Transport showed that 55 percent of people in Germany would like to ride a bicycle or e-bike more often. “It doesn’t fit together,” says the Zukunft Fahrrad industry association.