Before the meeting of the transport ministers: Why a reform of route prices is needed

Many local trains no longer roll along the tracks as usual. In Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, traffic has already been thinned out somewhat during off-peak times. In other regions, transport associations could soon follow these examples. The federal states are warning about this shortly before the transport ministers' conference that begins this Wednesday. Without a reform of the route pricing system, cancellations would be unavoidable nationwide, says Schleswig-Holstein's department head Claus Ruhe Madsen (CDU).

The reason for the threatened wave of cuts is a court ruling. Until then, the annual increase in rail tolls that transport companies pay for using the rail network was capped for local transport. Larger cost increases had to be borne by long-distance and freight transport. However, according to the judgment, this was contrary to European law.

Now the operators of regional trains also have to bear the full share of the cost increases. According to the states, they cannot pay for this from federal subsidies for local transport. According to a calculation by the Association of German Transport Companies, they have had to raise 400 million euros more since the decision.

Otherwise, the transport associations only have two options. They can cancel trains or raise ticket prices. That will be the big topic at the conference of state ministers, which begins on Wednesday in Hohenschwangau, Bavaria. Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) is also a guest - but it is not expected that he will make any funding commitments there. The signs are bad for a solution to the problem.

The federal government co-finances local transport with regionalization funds for the states. This year it is 11.9 billion euros. The amount increases by 3 percent every year. But the rail toll increases are significantly higher at 7.7 percent for 2027 and a further high percentage in 2028. The federal states are therefore calling for regionalization funding to be increased to up to 14 billion euros by the end of the decade.

The freight railways are also calling for a reform of the route pricing system. The rail toll prices are currently calculated according to a fixed scheme. The basis is the total costs of the infrastructure of the network company Infrago approved by the Federal Network Agency. This also includes, for example, interest on the equity provided by the federal government for the railway. With this calculation method, further increases in route prices are inevitable, according to railway companies' estimates.

Schleswig-Holstein's department head Madsen has suggested an alternative method. He wants to remove all investment-related costs of the network, for which the federal government is fundamentally responsible, from the formula for determining route prices. In addition, the federal government should offset any cost increases that go beyond the increase in regionalization funds.