Even if rail bashing is a popular sport: the railways are dear to the Germans.
In 2021, 12.7 billion euros flowed into the rail infrastructure - a new record.
Most of the money goes to the urgently needed modernization of the rail network.
When Infrastructure Director Ronald Pofalla is currently cheering that more than 1000 train stations have been renovated this year and that the federal government has made an additional 120 million euros available, then one essential figure is missing: in fact, the train stations benefit from around 1.6 billion euros each year.
Without a doubt, an investment in the future: Railway stations are the business card of the railway.
If it comes across as dirty, this does not speak in favor of the means of transport.
New customers cannot be won in this way.
On the other hand, the mess of numbers around infrastructure financing urgently needs to be cleared.
Even in the railway tower, some no longer understand who is actually paying what.
This also has to do with the structure of the railway system in this country.
Ending this lack of transparency - that would actually be a nice task for the new governing coalition in the coming year.