This is a good basis for the work of the FDP politician, who, as the federal government’s new railway commissioner, is also supposed to promote rail transport in Germany. With regard to rail freight transport, Theurer emphasized that the introduction of the digital automatic coupling DAC was “long overdue”. It is a “fundamental system innovation” for which he is “particularly” committed. The parties of the now governing coalition have decided that they want to expand the rail share in freight transport. “Of course, this only works through investments in the infrastructure, through digitisation, but above all through qualified employees at the railways themselves, in the infrastructure companies, but also at everyone else in the upstream and downstream value chain.”
In an interview with the dpa press agency, Theurer explained that the desired increase in rail traffic is “hardly imaginable” without massive investments in the existing rail network. There is a high renovation backlog and a backlog of repairs, which has to be worked off step by step. The management must be optimised so that construction can take place during operation and the capacity is restricted as little as possible.
In addition to the state-owned DB Cargo, the competitor companies, which already have a market share of 50 percent, play a decisive role. “This means that non-discriminatory access to the network is crucial in order to get freight traffic onto the rails. We also have to make international transport easier, because 60 percent of all freight traffic crosses at least one border. And in concrete terms, facilitating means investing in the infrastructure and digitising the system.” This includes “digital signaling technology” and “digital capacity management”. Battery hybrid and dual-power locomotives are also useful for the last mile and for shunting operations.
The new railway commissioner indicated that the prices for using the rail network should be kept low: “We are currently in talks as to whether and how and to what extent the reduction in track prices can be continued during the pandemic. The train path prices are non-competitive because they benefit all railway companies.”
Hermann Schmidtendorf, Editor-in-Chief
