According to a report, Deutsche Bahn will apparently have to cancel numerous long-distance connections next year, especially in eastern Germany. As the “Spiegel” reported on Tuesday evening, citing a confidential letter from the company to the Federal Network Agency, places in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are particularly affected.
These are IC connections between Leipzig and Karlsruhe, Gera and Cologne and Norddeich Mole and Leipzig.
As the magazine further reported, the company will also have to significantly reduce the ICE service to Stralsund and the Baltic Sea in the off-season due to the low capacity utilization. The reason for the measures is the increase in equity at Deutsche Bahn, which is forcing the infrastructure division to significantly increase the rail toll. As a result, some connections are no longer profitable.
The rail toll is a fee for using the rail network. These so-called track access charges are levied by the railway’s infrastructure division.
The expensive toll “does indeed pose significant challenges for the railway and cannot be compensated for in view of the current challenging economic situation,” a railway spokesman told “Spiegel”. He also did not rule out higher ticket prices: “If the increase in the announced magnitude, which is significantly higher than the average inflation-related increase in costs, were to be passed on directly to DB Fernverkehr AG, then service reductions and an increase in ticket prices would be unavoidable.”
He did not comment on the individual connections. “As a general rule, we do not comment on confidential correspondence,” said the spokesman.
