Under the Performance and Financing Agreement (LuFV III), the federal government will commit €62bn to infrastructure investment in 2020-2029, an increase of 59% compared with the current LuFV II, which covers the period 2015-2019, while DB will contribute €24.2bn, a 41% rise over LuFV II levels.
Hailing the agreement as the “largest ever” modernisation programme for Germany’s railway network, transport minister Mr Andreas Scheuer said LuFV III will deliver a “high-performance, high-quality rail network as a basis for active climate protection in transport.”
The draft agreement is due to be completed next month and will be debated in the Bundestag in the autumn.
Last week the federal Monopolies Commission issued a report calling for greater separation between DB’s transport and infrastructure activities, with a more robust system of quality indicators to monitor how federal funding is used.
DB set out plans to significantly enhance capacity, improve performance and increase traffic in its Strong Rail strategy, which was published in June.
