BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Deutsche Bahn plans to renew 2,000 kilometers of track and 2,000 switches this year. "The investments by DB, the federal government and the federal states in the rail infrastructure will total around 16.4 billion euros in 2024 alone," the federally owned company announced on Monday. In this way, Deutsche Bahn wants to ensure that the ageing of the rail infrastructure is halted.

The rail network is considered dilapidated and overloaded. In day-to-day operations, many disruptions on important routes and numerous construction sites have recently led to major problems with punctuality. The obsolescence of the railroad infrastructure is measured in the annual network condition report. In the current report (for 2022), the "age-based backlog demand" is estimated at 103.4 billion euros. The backlog demand for bridges is particularly high (59.9 billion euros). Whether the ageing process can be halted in 2024 will only be seen in the next but one network status report.

The general public is also critical of the condition of the rail infrastructure, as shown by a recent survey conducted by Allensbach on behalf of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), which was also published on Monday: 65 percent of respondents said that the rail network was in a very poor or rather poor condition. Only 12% said it was in rather good condition and less than 0.5% said it was in very good condition. As recently as 2015, the positive ratings had predominated with 41% to 31%. In contrast, the condition of the freeways is also currently rated positively by a clear majority, while the balance for local roads is slightly positive.

However, only 37% of respondents believe that investing more money in rail than in roads is the right approach. 48 percent want equal treatment, while 8 percent want more money for roads.

The most important rail construction project this year will be the general refurbishment of the Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim. The line will be completely closed for five months. It is the first of 40 planned general refurbishments in the coming years./nif/DP/mis