Overview
- Two weeks into his tenure, Transport Minister Steffen Bilger launched a high‑visibility summer tour pressing to use a newly created, debt‑financed special fund of about €170 billion, of which roughly €106 billion is earmarked for rail.
- Bilger visited the Rader Hochbrücke replacement over the Kiel Canal, which remains on schedule after a July closure of the first substructure and carries a reported first‑part cost of €307 million with old‑bridge dismantling planned from 2027 and the second substructure due 2028–2031.
- Operational problems at Deutsche Bahn have confronted Bilger directly, including a failed air‑conditioning carriage on his ICE trip and a company report showing just 59 percent long‑distance punctuality in the first half of the year.
- The minister has urged faster planning and spending, ordered a review of large bundled corridor overhauls known as Generalsanierungen, and proposed tying DB executive bonuses to punctuality, while experts and opposition MPs demand a dedicated multi‑year rail fund, more maintenance staff and clearer project prioritisation.
- The near term test for Bilger is turning rhetoric into measurable gains for commuters and freight users by matching steady multi‑year financing and planning capacity to on‑the‑ground fixes, with risks that big, concentrated works and low water on waterways will continue to disrupt services unless sequencing and staffing improve.