Anyone who has traveled by train in Germany in recent years is at this point well prepared to wait, sometimes hours, for their train. Mass delays and cancellations, seemingly endless small repairs disrupting traffic in key commuting areas, and overcrowding are just some of the issues facing passengers who rely on Deutsche Bahn in their daily lives.

Since coming into power in early 2025, the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz has repeatedly promised to fund major rail projects that had already been planned. Of the €500 billion ($585 billion) in controversial new debt taken on by his administration €150 billion was earmarked for train work.

Indeed, Merz said several times over the course of 2025 that “everything with finished plans will be built.” However, the government appears to have quietly backed out of some of those promises, while simultaneously shifting more money towards building new highways.

Public broadcaster ARD first reported the shift when the government was compelled to respond to a parliamentary request from the opposition Green Party. Proposed renovations on eastern European connections have been nixed, as well as a plan to electrify a major route in eastern Germany. The latter prompted Green lawmaker Paula Piechotta to accuse the federal government of once again leaving the former East Germany, which already suffers from a lack of investment, in the lurch.

Outdated and overloaded

The Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD), one of the country’s top NGOs for sustainable transportation, told DW that “allocating €3 billion from the budget to finance new road construction and expansion, while thousands of bridges across the country are crumbling,” and Deutsche Bahn is staggering further into decline, is unconscionable.

Philipp Kosok, an expert on rail policy with the transport non-profit Agora-Verkehrswende, told DW that the current federal government actually has invested more in the national rail network than in previous years, but that two problems persist: It still isn’t enough for a truly modern train service, and that years of under-investment under Chancellor Angela Merkel (2005-2021) and her predecessors still need to be corrected for.

This most recent move to cut funding, then, “will only serve to create less trust” in the German government, as residents struggle to commute and travel on “frequently outdated and overloaded” trains and tracks.

Deutsche Bahn did not comment publicly on the reported lack of financing, but on Thursday began promoting a new drive for more clean and more secure train stations.

In a statement to DW, Deutsche Bahn declined to criticize the government over the cuts, saying that “due to the enormous need for renovation of the rail network, renovation currently takes priority over new construction and expansion.”

Climate goals almost impossible without rail investment

In July, Merz promised to do “everything possible” to keep to Germany’s climate goals, including carbon neutrality by 2045. Previous governments have stressed the fact that broad use of public transportation is a necessary part of these goals.

“Anyone who wants to achieve a genuine shift in transport from road to rail must consistently continue to ramp up financing for rail infrastructure. This is the only way to make rail more attractive for passengers,” said Alexander Kaas Elias, the VCD’s expert on rail and public transportation. He also stressed the impact the cuts would have on freight transport, a major industry that relies on German railways.

Philipp Kosok agreed that it is practically impossible for Germany to achieve carbon neutrality without “greatly increasing freight transport on the railways and doubling the amount of passengers that rely on trains rather than cars,” something that requires significant investment. Pointing to the so-called “Deutschlandtakt” plan to revolutionize the country’s rail system, Kosok said: “The government has a great plan sitting in the drawer, it’s just not acting on it.”

The “Deutschlandtakt” is a guiding strategy for an integrated rail system across Germany, coordinating long-distance, local and freight trains in a way that ensures perfect timing of connections and shorter travel times. Experts do not expect it to be implemented before 2070.

Current funding not enough to cover basic services

The issues run deeper, Kaas Elias explained, than just these most recent cuts. “Unfortunately, the federal government has taken a step backward when it comes to public transport,” he said. For example, the Deutschlandticket for regional public transport across the country has transformed from a €9 a month COVID-19 era mega-success to €63 a month as of January 2026. Moreover, there is no plan in place for the funding to maintain even the current level of service by Deutsche Bahn and municipal public transport systems.

“It has long been clear that when people feel disconnected from buses and trains, democracy suffers,” Kaas Elias added, saying that the government was ignoring how attractive alternatives to private cars can be, especially in underserved rural areas.

Last year, Deutsche Bahn revealed that only just over 60% of long-distance trains had run on time, as Deutsche Bahn’s notoriety for being unreliable grew.

DB’s new CEO, Evelyn Palla, gave a grim outlook: “To be honest, things won’t get better for the time being,” she told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Less funding will only exacerbate this situation further.

Edited by Rina Goldenberg

At the time of publication, the federal Transport Ministry had not responded to multiple requests for comment.

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