Germany channels an additional 1 billion towards rail digitisation
The Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) and Deutsche Bahn (DB) will direct an additional 1 billion euros towards the modernisation and digitisation of the German railways. Around 2.7 billion euros is now earmarked for investment.
The overarching goal of the plan is to rollout ETCS across the country. In tandem, old non-ETCS compatible interlockings will be replaced by digital ones. A uniform integrated command and control system will become the heart of the new German digital signalling system.
With these actions, stakeholders aim to increase network capacity by 35 percent through more efficient operations, which should have the added benefit of fewer disruptions and better punctuality.
There will be benefits for freight traffic, too. DB will use the additional funds to equip the Rhine-Alps freight corridor from the Dutch North Sea ports to Italy with ERTMS. The extra money, 307 million euros to be precise, will also allow DB to make headway in the planning stages of rolling out ETCS on the Scandinavia-Mediterranean corridor. The section between Denmark and Austria is to be equipped with ETCS by the end of 2030.
Another 83 million euros will be directed towards to the Stuttgart Digital Node and the so-called building block #3, which covers the digitalisation of some 300 network kilometres in the vicinity of Stuttgart. The area is to become Germany’s first digitised rail hub, with the core of the node to go into operation in 2025 with ETCS without signals.
Finally, some 11 million euros in plannings funds will flow to the high-speed line between Cologne and Frankfurt, where in the coming 6 years, DB aims to equip 200 kilometers of track with ETCS and digital interlockings.
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