Soaring inflation could delay Germany’s new railways by decades – Spiegel

Rail projects approved by Germany’s state-owned Deutsche Bahn could be delayed by decades if the federal government does not dramatically increase investment, Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

Some €2 billion ($1.9 billion) were approved in the 2022 budget for the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan, but according to an estimate from the lobby association Pro-Rail Alliance, quoted by Der Spiegel, with that level of funding the new construction and expansion projects would not be completed until 2071. If the projects are to be implemented by 2030, in line with the Federal Plan, the government will have to invest €12.2 billion ($11.9 billion) every year, Pro-Rail Alliance said.

According to Der Spiegel, some high-speed line projects are “urgently needed” as the number of passengers keeps growing. However, higher construction costs are putting the brakes on the plans, as the government failed to account for “the massive price increases of this year”, the magazine writes.

Inflation in Germany reached double digits in September for the first time in decades, driven mostly by higher energy bills.

The Economist magazine reported last month that Germany, the largest economy in the EU and the fourth largest in the world, risks deindustrialization as a result of surging energy prices.

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