Berlin Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing is planning to use grants and other investments to strengthen the role of the railways in transport and thus increase their contribution to climate protection. This emerges from the detailed overview of the measures for an immediate climate protection program that the FDP politician submitted to Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).
Nine measures target the rail sector. “Rail is the basis for climate-friendly and efficient mobility and is therefore a particular focus for us,” says Volker Wissing when he talks about climate protection. Nothing relieves the road more “than if we get as many people and transports as possible onto the rails”.
However, given the budget planning, there are doubts in the Ministry of Climate Protection as to how seriously it is meant. Due to the strict requirements of the Climate Protection Act, Wissing wants to continuously invest more in the rail infrastructure up to 2030 in order to increase capacities and, for example, to implement the “Deutschlandtakt” timetable.
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According to an expert from the Ministry of Climate Protection, the costs for this will amount to 5.2 billion euros by 2030, but the benefit is rather small with savings of 0.17 million tons of CO2.
The railway is intended to transport more people and goods
For comparison: By 2030, the transport sector still has to save 271 million tons of CO2 in order to achieve the legally prescribed targets, this year alone it should be six million tons.
To make rail more attractive than road, Wissing wants to use taxpayer money to further dampen track prices in passenger transport – according to the ministry, with 800 million euros each by 2024 alone, i.e. a total of 2.4 billion euros.
At the same time, the minister wants to design the rail network in such a way that significantly fewer short-haul flights will be necessary in the future. However, details are missing, so that the experts rate the idea as “important”, but basically see it as an “accompanying measure” that has no climate effect of its own. “The measure cannot be finally evaluated because the experts have no information on the design (especially in conjunction with other measures in the rail sector such as the Deutschlandtakt) and on the financial requirements.”
The experts have this problem with many of the proposals. This includes Wissing’s plan to shift mail flights to rail. According to the expert, there are not even any calculations in the ministry as to how much CO2 could be saved. However, the experts point out that “the relocation can extend the delivery time” and that the legal obligation, according to which the post office must deliver at least 80 percent of its letters the day after the posting, should possibly be abolished beforehand.
The minister wants to subsidize train-path prices
Wissing also intends to promote rail freight transport with a number of measures. Among other things, he wants to continue to subsidize the route prices. According to experts, a total of 1.17 million tons of CO2 could be saved. Cost: 1.97 billion euros. In order to promote terminals where trucks and freight trains handle containers (combined transport), the ministry is also planning a good half a billion euros by 2030.
A major construction site for the railways is the pending digitization of the system. Wissing’s plans reveal that this will not be possible within a few years. First of all, he wants to equip vehicles with the appropriate devices for digital signaling technology (ETCS) and “prepare” the digital railway system, enable highly automated driving and introduce digital capacity management.
Read more about climate protection in transport here
Since the ministry is not specific, the evaluators could not assess the benefits and costs. In 2018, McKinsey consultants had forecast investments of more than 30 billion euros for the “digital rail”.
“Only 47 percent of the gap for 2030” could be closed with the proposals, Habeck’s officials summarized in an internal statement on the report. The reason: Wissing would need enormous amounts of billions of euros in tax money to achieve its goals.
73 billion euros alone to extend the purchase premium for e-cars, the local transport industry is demanding more than 60 billion euros, and the railways are of a similar magnitude. Accordingly, the officials of the Ministry of Climate Protection also sum up: “In any case, additional measures are necessary to a considerable extent.”
Many billions are missing for the climate plans
“The immediate climate protection program and the federal budget must be synchronized quickly,” demanded Heike von Hoorn, Managing Director of the German Transport Forum. The rail will “be put on the waiting track until 2027 with the urgent increase in the requirement plan funds. So the whole thing is limping, and one has to ask oneself whether the government is serious about the central role of rail in the mobility transition.”
Van Hoorn called for more funds to be made available. “These are not about costs or subsidies, but about investments in the future,” she told the Handelsblatt. However, there is no sign of this in the budget for 2022 or 2023. In addition, faster planning and approval procedures are of course essential. “What is possible with the construction of LNG terminals in Wilhelmshaven, we also need for charging infrastructure and other projects. It is of paramount social interest that we achieve the climate goals in transport.”
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