According to an adjustment bill submitted by the German Federal Ministry of Finance to the Budget Committee on 10th January 2023, rail transport will receive significantly less funding in 2024. The federal government intends to reduce the funds for asset price subsidies for rail freight transport in the 2024 budget by €65 million to €20 million compared to previous plans. Instead of €350 million, only around €179.3 million will be available for track-access charge subsidies for rail freight transport. The federal funding programme Zukunft Schienengüterverkehr will receive only €25.7 million instead of the previously planned €42 million. Furthermore, according to the proposal, the track-access charge subsidies for long-distance passenger rail transport are to be reduced from €10 million to just €145,000. Overall, this means a reduction of €261.8 million or 54% in these areas of operational funding. According to the association Die Güterbahnen, the construction cost subsidies for railway lines on non-federally owned networks under the long-distance rail freight network funding act SGFFG will also fall by €46.5 million to €27 million.
