GERMANY: Over half of all Deutsche Bahn signal boxes need replacement, according to a report into the state of the more-than-34 000 km national network.
Using a 1 to 6 grading system, under which 1·00 is the best, infrastructure manager DB InfraGO’s annual survey for 2024 rated the state-owned network’s overall condition at 3·00. This represents an improvement over the 2023 figure of 3·03 and reverses the decline of recent years. The network was rated at 3·01 in 2022, but 2·93 in 2021.
Replacement costs for all infrastructure categorised at 4 or below is put at €109·8bn, with €31·9bn of that needed for bridges and €35·1bn for signalboxes. Of the latter, 2 010 have been identified for replacement, with their low rating largely being due to increasing obsolescence. More than 200 are to be replaced with electronic signalling by 2027.
A major driver of the overall improvement is track, rated at 3·08 in 2023 and 2·91 in 2024 following replacement of 2 059 track-km. A further 8 577 km has been identified for renewal.
The condition of the network’s turnouts improved from 3·10 to 3·05, with 1 840 being replaced, as did stations (3·09 to 3·03). Bridges remained unchanged at 2·78, but the condition of level crossings declined, from 3·37 to 3·58.
Investment in the eastern states since Germany’s reunification in 1990 has resulted in these having better-condition infrastructure than equivalent regions in the west. Best overall was the network in Thüringen, rated at 2·61, while the lowest ranked was Bremen at 3·29.
DB invested nearly €20bn in renewals last year, and has already said it may need an additional €150bn in funding during the period to 2034 to cover infrastructure maintenance and improvements. Germany changed its constitution in March, allowing it to raise €500bn through extra borrowing to fund defence, climate protection and infrastructure.
DB’s wholly-owned infrastructure business DB InfraGO was formed in late 2023 by merging DB Station & Service with DB Netz, and has continued the latter’s annual infrastructure surveys.
