Rail freight on Germany’s mixed-traffic lines is underperforming by a lot

Germany is one of the few countries that built high-speed lines that would also accommodate freight traffic. However, the results are incredibly underwhelming, as a document from the German government showed. The Bundestag analysed five corridors and their rail freight performances after a parliamentary inquiry. They are the Cologne-Rhine/Main, Nuremberg-Ingolstadt, Erfurt-Leipzig/Halle, Ebensfeld-Erfurt, and Wendlingen-Ulm, all opened in the past 30 years. The first one, the government said, was designed only for passengers.

The figures presented are quite astounding. For example, when the Nuremberg-Ingolstadt line was built in 2006, the expectations were for around 100 freight trains a day. However, last year, the line was only “occasionally” used, “primarily as diverted traffic”. This is due to a tunnel passing ban approved by Germany in 2025, the government explained.

The plans for the Erfurt-Leipzig/Halle and Ebensfeld-Erfurt were both approved in 1996, with 131 and 168 daily freight convoys estimated. After three decades, the lines are averaging 1.2 and two, for a total of 449 on the former and 651 on the latter for the whole of 2025.

The last railway mentioned in the government’s document is the Wendlingen-Ulm, which was built between 2010 and 2022. Estimates were far more modest here, with a forecast 32 trains per day for last year. However, the average was actually only 0.4, with 160 freight trains running for the totality of the year.

This story was originally published by RailFreight.com. Read the full story at RailFreight.com →