photo: DB Cargo Polska/ Facebook/DBs investment this year is in the billions of euros. Will it influence the customer service for their customers?
Almost one billion euros, that is how much more is getting the DB investment program called „New Network for Germany“. A record sum this year consists of 13.6 billion euros. 1,800 kilometers of track, 2,000 points, 140 bridges, and 800 stations. The goal is more efficient infrastructure and more capacity in the rail network.
“We are building more than ever before – a real tour de force! We can only achieve this with a strong team, with motivated and committed employees. To this end, we are hiring 4,800 additional engineers and specialists for expansion and maintenance this year alone,” Ronald Pofalla, Board Member for Infrastructure at Deutsche Bahn (DB).
Roughly 60 kilometers long high-speed railway Wendlingen – Ulm goes as planned and will start to operate at the end of 2022. Cutting the travel time between Stuttgart and Ulm by around 15 minutes.
DB also continues its digitization efforts. In the summer in Donauwörth will go into operation the first digital interlocking, ETCS, on a high-speed line. The main focus however is on the digital node in Stuttgart and the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor from Hamburg via Erfurt and Munich to the Austrian border near Kufstein.
„A strong infrastructure is the basis for an attractive offer for all rail passengers. That’s exactly what we want to do: We want to convince more people that rail is an environmentally friendly means of transport. Every euro spent on rail is a euro spent on climate protection,“ said Board Member for Infrastructure at DB, Ronald Pofalla.
DB isn’t focused only on big projects. It keeps improving the state of its rails also by small and medium-sized measures. Additional points and the use of temporary bridges should help with making the train traffic run reliably even during construction. DB is also working on projects to make punctuality of its trains.
Other parts of the railway system are the train stations and DB isn’t forgetting about them either. More than 40% of the station budget, around 700 million euros, is focused on around 800 stations, 15% of all stations in Germany, that will see some upgrades. The focus is the feeder and hub stations. DB is also expanding weather protection and passenger information.
Ronald Pofalla: "Higher investments also mean more construction volume in our network. Customer-friendly and capacity-saving construction are right at the top of the agenda. To this end, we will further intensify our cooperation with the construction industry and carry out construction work even faster and more reliably.” DB is trying to make sure that customers both in passenger and freight transport won’t have to deal with any issues, despite the intensive construction and upgrades being done this year.