Newsletters

On 13 May, a coalition of European and national rail freight associations issued a joint letter to Germany’s new Federal Minister for Transport, Patrick Schnieder, voicing serious concerns over the deteriorating quality and management of the country’s rail network.

In the letter, the associations state that rail operations in Germany are becoming increasingly complex, costly, and uncertain. The root cause, they argue, is DB InfraGO’s continued failure to deliver the infrastructure quality and customer-oriented information that are increasingly the norm across other European countries.

Germany is described as “the crucial centrepiece of European logistics,” with its railway infrastructure essential not only to commercial freight flows, but also to military mobility, industrial productivity, and the success of the EU’s climate and modal shift ambitions.

While the associations reiterate their strong support for infrastructure investment, they emphasise that these efforts must be accompanied by reliable diversionary routes during prolonged maintenance works. Current alternatives are described as excessively long, lacking in capacity, and often themselves prone to disruption – a situation exacerbated by poor communication and inconsistent planning. The associations urge the German government to rethink its approach, warning that without urgent improvements, more freight will shift back to the roads – increasing congestion and undermining environmental goals.

CLECAT shares these concerns, given the central role that Germany plays in European freight transport. It will continue to follow these developments closely and reiterates the importance of a resilient and well-managed European rail network that supports the competitiveness and sustainability of freight transport across borders.