Germany ticket: the pain threshold is 59 euros
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner is questioning the price of the Deutschlandticket. It may already become more expensive in the fall.
Metronom train at Bremen main station.
(Image: heise online / anw)
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is getting the discussion about the Deutschlandticket moving ahead of the parliamentary summer break. In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, he questioned the price. "At some point, politicians will have to decide whether we want to invest more in rail or whether the price of 49 euros should remain." Overall, more money needs to be invested in rail infrastructure and less needs to be spent on social issues.
He does not want to abolish the ticket introduced on May 1, 2023, as it is a "game changer". Ulrich Lange, Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, has a similar view. For him, the Deutschlandticket is "overpriced". Now there is a lack of money for the infrastructure, reported Bayerischer Rundunk. It also quotes Bavarian Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU), who assumes that the ticket will be at least 10 euros more expensive from the fall.
For Detlef Neuß, Federal Chairman of the Pro Bahn passenger association, this is the upper limit. According to WDR, he also assumes that the ticket will no longer be available for 49 euros in future. Neuß took the opportunity to criticize the fact that the federal government has been subsidizing car traffic for decades.
"Lindner himself is the biggest problem"
NRW Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens) sees Lindner himself as the biggest problem for the Deutschlandticket. The federal states have been waiting for months for the federal government to keep its financial promises, he told Die Welt. This "should actually be a matter of course", but for Lindner and the federal government it is not.
Atthe conference of transport ministers in April of this year, it was still said that the price of 49 euros for the Deutschlandticket would be maintained for 2024 - but only if the federal government fulfilled its obligation and transferred the unspent funds from 2023 to 2024.
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Meanwhile, the rail associations that make up the Pro-Rail Alliance are criticizing alleged plans to cut one billion euros from the rail infrastructure budget. The funds for the expansion and new construction of the railways have already been cut back in the current budget. "With a reallocation of one billion euros in the 2025 budget in favor of road construction, the government is calling its own goals into question," writes the alliance. BUND, in alliance with the car club ACE and others, is now calling for the construction of new freeways to be stopped.
(anw)
