European business travellers call for German rail investments

Germanwatch, together with large business associations with over 5,000 members and numerous large and small companies, including DAX-listed SAP and IKEA retailer Ingka, calls on the current and next German government to enable the expansion, modernisation, and renovation of Gemany's rail network. Our open letter to Members of Parliament in transport and budget committees reads:

‘We want to reduce our climate footprint as business travellers. We are willing to take the train instead of the plane. Rail is 7.7 times more climate-friendly than aviation in national connections. However, reliability is key for business travellers and in 2024, the year of the UEFA European Championship, so far less than two thirds of the trains of Deutsche Bahn were on time in long-distance transport.’

The current and next federal government must provide sufficient funds in its 2025 budget to pay for the network's modernisation, digitalisation, and expansion. A rolling rail fund for the upcoming years will simplify and secure long-term financing of railways, and government must ensure that rail tolls will fall rather than rise.

‘The stakes are often too high to deal with a large amount of uncertainty’, says Hugo Houppermans, Director of Anders Reizen, a Dutch business travellers coalition with 70 multinational corporations. ‘Many of the organisations in our coalition prioritise train over plane. Especially the trains from Amsterdam to London and Paris are usually fully booked. But the appetite to use trains running to and through Germany has been falling because of unreliability. This damages the climate and business. We need a top-notch German rail system and a stronger European coordination of rail infrastructure and cross-border trains.’

Jacob Rohm, aenior advisor on climate-neutral mobility at Germanwatch, adds: ‘The insecurity after the end of the German government shows just how important it is to resolve the backlog in network investments with reliable and efficient funding flows through a well-secured rail infrastructure fund. This is a key item for the government agenda, now and after the upcoming elections. In the short term, the funding for the general overhaul of central rail routes must be secured for 2025.’

The letter is signed by associations, companies, and organisations from various EU member states, many operating at EU level. It was co-ordinated by Transport & Environment, Germanwatch, and the VCD Verkehrsclub Deutschland e. V.