A decision from Bonn is set to reshape the balance of long-distance rail transport in Germany: the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur), headquartered in the former German capital, has announced that Deutsche Bahn can no longer control more than 60-75% of the capacity on the busiest routes, thus opening the way for new competitors, starting with the Italian operator Italo.
The announcement was made this morning by the Agency’s president, Klaus Müller, explaining that the Bonn authority intends to facilitate Italo’s planned debut in the German passenger transport market. The mechanism specifically concerns DB InfraGo, Deutsche Bahn’s subsidiary responsible for network management, which in the annual timetable definition will no longer be able to assign almost all available capacity on the busiest sections to a single company.
On the corridors with the highest traffic density, equipped with predetermined maximum capacity limits, as is the case for the Munich and Frankfurt hubs, DB InfraGo must also ensure that at least one competitor of DB Fernverkehr, the group’s long-distance division, can effectively operate.
A MOVE TO LOWER PRICES
“We are strengthening competition in long-distance transport,” declared Müller, emphasizing that “for rail customers, competition means better quality and lower prices.” The unresolved issue so far concerned the predictability of investments: operators like Italo or Flixtrain, to compete with Deutsche Bahn, are required to commit large sums to purchasing new trains, but the annual reassignment of routes provided by current regulations did not allow them to assess with certainty which network usage rights they would actually obtain.
According to Handelsblatt, circulation rights will still, at least in an initial phase, be granted on an annual basis.
THE INSTITUTIONAL PROCESS AND STILL OPEN ISSUES
However, the procedure is not yet concluded. The Federal Network Agency will now inform the Advisory Committee for Railway Infrastructure, a body composed of deputies, state secretaries, and ministers, and will consult it on the imminent decision within the next two weeks. At the same time, the Federal Antitrust Office and the Monopolies Commission will also be involved before the Agency can adopt a final decision.
Among the planned measures is also the obligation for DB InfraGo to provide competitors with adequate spaces in stations for ticket sales with dedicated staff and for lounge areas: a request particularly insisted upon by Italo’s general manager, Gianbattista La Rocca, who intends to introduce his own service in German stations.
However, specific provisions are still lacking regarding access to parking tracks and to ticket vending machines.
ITALO TARGETS GERMANY FROM 2028
The Italian operator, nearly half controlled by the shipping group MSC, plans to enter the German market starting April 2028. For the occasion, it has already ordered thirty high-speed trains from Siemens, with an option for another fourteen: an investment that La Rocca estimates at 3.6 billion euros.
Deutsche Bahn and the unions have expressed doubts about the reform framework, confirming their opposing positions from previous weeks. The CEO of DB Fernverkehr, the Italian Evelyn Palla, warned of the risk of “uncontrolled competition, whose consequences could ultimately prove negative for the majority of users.” On the same line is Martin Burkert, general secretary of Eisenbahn- und Verkehrsgewerkschaft (Evg), the main railway sector union. According to Burkert, with Italo’s entry, at least 16 cities risk losing Intercity and high-speed connections.
The Bundesnetzagentur has instead decided that for the no longer dazzling German railways, the time for competition has come. The real competition that an operator like Italo is ready to bring to the country.
