On 16th August 2024, the coalition government decided to convert €4.5 billion of the grants provided for in the 2025 federal budget into equity increases in the infrastructure division of German state railway DB, DB InfraGo. Together with an already planned equity increase of €5.9 billion, the total volume increases to €10.4 billion, while remaining investment grants amount to €4.7 billion. In addition, the federal government plans to grant DB a loan of €3 billion to redeem bonds for infrastructure. These measures could lead to higher track access charges, which is causing concern among authorised users and associations.
