Overview
- DB InfraGo’s 2025 condition report, published Thursday, kept the national rail grade at 3.0, unchanged from 2024.
- Roughly €19.9 billion across about 26,000 worksites in 2025 only stopped further decay, though the share of assets rated 4 or worse eased to 16.1% from 16.8%.
- Signal boxes, which set switches and signals, remain the weakest link at a grade of 4.02, and about half of the roughly 4,000 installations need renewal.
- DB is leaning on months-long corridor overhauls that close lines to rebuild them, with the Riedbahn upgrade lifting its score from 3.7 to 2.19 and routes like Hamburg–Berlin now under repair.
- Management plans about €23 billion and roughly 28,000 worksites in 2026 and warns poor infrastructure keeps punctuality low, with long-distance on-time performance at 64.4% in April and a revised 70% goal for 2029.