Overview
- DB InfraGO completed preliminary planning and published a revised cost estimate of €8.57 billion plus a roughly €7.6 billion buffer for risks and inflation, a package made public on Monday.
- Project leader Matthias Neumaier said the company does not intend to spend the full contingency and will rely on professional risk management to avoid using the reserve.
- The Federal Ministry of Transport will send DB’s planning files, a ministerial report and the Federal Railway Authority’s assessment to the Bundestag, triggering committee review and a parliamentary decision on route choice and extra local demands.
- A decade of talks with communities has driven up costs by adding extensive tunnelling; the preferred 64 km route includes 39 km of tunnel and leaves open a contested Inn crossing that DB says would cost about €3 billion more if under‑tunnelled.
- DB expects the German approach to enter service in the early 2040s after the Brenner Base Tunnel opens around 2032 and anticipates significant EU support because the line is part of the Scan‑Med trans‑European corridor.