DB Fights Back as Italo Targets Germany’s Long-Distance Rail Market

Competition for Germany’s long-distance rail market is heating up. Italian operator Italo plans to launch services in 2028, but DB InfraGO is now challenging the regulator’s decision to reserve more capacity for Deutsche Bahn’s competitors.

Italo is the second major private operator preparing a large-scale expansion in Germany. FlixTrain has already announced plans to bring 65 new Talgo trains into service from 2028, as RAILTARGET previously reported.

Now Italo is preparing an investment of EUR 3.6 billion for its German market entry. The Italian company has ordered 26 Siemens Velaro Multi System high-speed trains, with an option for another 14, and plans to begin operations in 2028.

Its initial network would focus on two major corridors: Munich–Cologne–Dortmund and Munich–Berlin–Hamburg. Italo has already approached Germany’s Federal Network Agency, the Bundesnetzagentur, over access to the necessary train paths.

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Regulator Opens More German Rail Capacity to DB Competitors

The Bundesnetzagentur sided with greater competition. In July, it ordered DB InfraGO to change the way capacity is allocated on heavily used sections of the German network. From the 2028 timetable period, no single long-distance operator can receive more than 60% to 75% of the available capacity on affected sections when competing applications cannot otherwise be resolved. DB InfraGO itself will set the precise percentage within that range.

In practice, the rule is meant to ensure that at least one competitor to DB Fernverkehr can actually operate on congested routes. It does not apply to an occasional train. To benefit from the competition clause, an operator must offer a regular clock-face service. The Bundesnetzagentur defines this in principle as at least four daily services running every two hours at the same minute. The regulator argues that companies investing billions in new trains need greater certainty that they will actually be able to use them.

Italo’s plans certainly fall into that category. Its new Siemens fleet will consist of eight-car Velaro Multi System trains capable of 320 km/h, while the company plans around 50 daily services serving 18 German cities.

DB InfraGO Takes the Regulator to Court

DB InfraGO is not accepting the decision without a fight. According to LTO, The Deutsche Bahn infrastructure subsidiary has launched proceedings before the Administrative Court in Cologne, where it wants the legal basis and practical consequences of the Bundesnetzagentur ruling examined. The regulator is based in Bonn, which falls within the court’s jurisdiction.

DB InfraGO argues that the new rule could make an already difficult timetable-planning process even more complicated. Each year, passenger and freight operators submit requests for the train paths they want to use. Because long-distance, regional and freight trains share much of the same infrastructure in Germany, applications regularly clash.

For the 2026 timetable alone, DB InfraGO says it had to resolve more than 5,600 capacity conflicts. In most cases, compromises were found by slightly changing departure times or asking operators to give up a strict clock-face timetable.

That flexibility could become more difficult under the new rule as the Bundesnetzagentur’s competition clause specifically protects operators offering regular interval services. DB InfraGO fears those companies will therefore have less reason to accept changes to their timetable in order to resolve conflicts with other trains.

The company wants the court to clarify what it describes as the "legal basis, proportionality and practical feasibility" of the regulator’s decision. Until the court rules, however, the Bundesnetzagentur decision remains in force.

Deutsche Bahn Still Dominates Long-Distance Rail

Deutsche Bahn itself currently puts its share of the market at around 95%, although the Bundesnetzagentur’s own market figures show competitors gradually gaining ground depending on whether the market is measured by passenger-kilometres or train-kilometres. And long-distance passenger transport remains one of the stronger parts of the DB business.

In the first half of 2026, Deutsche Bahn carried 960 million passengers across its passenger operations, 17 million more than a year earlier. DB Fernverkehr reported an operating profit of EUR 148 million, compared with a EUR 59 million loss in the first half of 2025, as RAILTARGET recently reported in its analysis of Deutsche Bahn’s return to profit.

Italo and FlixTrain are therefore targeting a market that is both commercially important to Deutsche Bahn and still overwhelmingly dominated by the state-owned operator.

Will More Competition Really Mean Better Rail Services?

Critics argue that private operators naturally focus on the busiest and most profitable corridors, leaving the incumbent to maintain a wider network that includes less attractive connections. In Germany, opponents of further liberalisation warn that greater competition could fragment the current network and make connections between regions more difficult to coordinate.

Supporters see it differently. They argue that more operators can bring lower fares, more frequent services and pressure on Deutsche Bahn to improve quality.

The Bundesnetzagentur clearly wants to give new entrants a genuine chance. Its president Klaus Müller said the regulator believes its decision can finally get competition moving in German long-distance rail. The Federal Ministry of Transport has so far taken a more cautious position. According to the source material cited by RAILTARGET, the ministry intends to examine whether the current market structure still provides efficient long-distance services and attractive connections across different regions of Germany.