Of the approximately 26,000 railway bridges in Germany, over 1,000 are in urgent need of renovation.
In the past year, the number of these bridges increased by 37 compared to 2019, according to a response from the federal government to the FDP's request, which Reuters received on Friday.
The cost of the renovation will run into billions.
According to the federal government, Deutsche Bahn has stated a replacement value for the structures of 7.7 billion euros.
The average age of all bridges is now almost 74 years.
Over 11,000 are more than 100 years old.
In addition, the renovation probably slowed down due to the pandemic last year.
While 277 bridges were renewed in 2019, there were only 92 in 2020. "The federal government assesses the condition of the railway bridges as in need of further improvement," the answer said.
"This is where the long-term deficits in maintaining and modernizing the rail network are taking revenge," said FDP transport expert Torsten Herbst.
Lengthy planning and approval procedures contribute to the modernization backlog.
"The new federal government must ensure that the measures adopted so far to accelerate the modernization of bridges now also work in practice."