RailGood welcomes mobility policy German government agreement

10 Februari 2018

RailGood supports the transport policy of CDU/CSU and SPD in the new coalition agreement. This German Government policy will strengthen rail freight transport in Germany and also Europe significantly. Good for the economy, the environment and traffic safety. Germany gives with this coalition agreement a crystal clear and strong signal that the required change in transport and logistics – the so called Verkehrswende – will be put into action in Germany. RailGood calls on the Dutch government to ensure timely and good compliance with this German policy.

According to the German coalition agreement between CDU, CSU and SPD

February 2018:
"Rail transport
Punctuality, good service and high quality must be the trademarks of the railways in Germany. With a Rail Pact of Politics and Industry, we want to attract twice as many rail customers by 2030, and in doing so, a.o. shift more freight traffic to environmentally friendly rail. We want to implement the measures of the Master Plan Rail Freight Traffic (June 2017) permanently. The railway companies in turn have to invest in more service, more reliability and more innovation.

We will implement the prioritized measures to create a Germany-wide 740 meter network for freight trains by 2020.

We want to support the digitization of railways and the expansion of European Rail Traffic Management System, electronic interlockings and the upgrade and retrofit of locomotives by the federal government. We want to support the automation of freight transport and autonomous train operations through research and promotion.

By 2025, we want to electrify 70 percent of the German rail network.

As the owner of Deutsche Bahn AG, we do not focus on maximizing profits, but on meaningfully maximizing rail traffic.

In order to reduce costs and increase the competitiveness of rail transport, we want to consistently pursue the reduction of train path charges. We will evaluate railway regulation law.

We want to arrange a new performance and financing agreement with DB AG. An essential quality criterion is the network availability. In addition, we want to create incentives for userfriendly construction and maintenance management of the railway network.

We will promote the implementation of the German Timetable Intervals. We will realize the therefore needed planned railway infrastructure upgrade and extension measures. Our goal is to significantly strengthen regularly scheduled long-distance traffic by rail. This timetable also includes the necessary efficient freight train paths."