Philipp Nagl, CEO of DB InfraGo, believes the rail network’s poor state will only improve gradually. “We have to expect a decade of renovations” he told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (Wednesday issue).
He noted that about forty more major corridor repairs are underway on heavily used segments. With each finished project the situation gets marginally better, and the overall pace should accelerate. Nagl urged that increases in federal funding be extended and dynamised to support this process.
Despite criticism of the renewal concept- which calls for fully closing underfunded lines that have been neglected for decades-Nagl remains committed. “Compressed renewal of entire corridors is the best way to tackle the enormous construction demand on heavily trafficked routes” he said.
Digital integration is being postponed because older signal boxes must first be replaced. Roughly half of the more than 4,000 existing boxes are not digitisation‑ready; they date from a pre‑computer era and still operate on cable‑driven or electro‑mechanical rollers.
In addition to corridor projects, DB InfraGo plans 28,000 smaller construction sites this year, with more likely to appear shortly. Regional and freight services, as well as passengers, suffer and are frequently informed too late. “We need and want to improve our communication” Nagl conceded. The company has reorganised to address this, but he stresses that the construction work is unavoidable. “That is the only way to pull out of the downward spiral” he added.