Deutsche Bahn sues to contest rail capacity mandates for competitors

Deutsche Bahn is taking legal action against a decision by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) to facilitate competition in Germany's long-distance rail market. The subsidiary DB InfraGO has filed a lawsuit with the Cologne Administrative Court to contest a mandate requiring the state-owned group to reserve at least 25 percent of capacity on heavily used routes for competitors.

The move follows a complaint from the Italian high-speed rail provider Italo, which plans to invest approximately 3.6 billion euros in a fleet of 26 high-speed trains to enter the German market by 2028. Italo intends to operate on key corridors, including routes connecting Munich to Frankfurt, Cologne, and Dortmund, as well as Munich to Berlin and Hamburg.

The legal dispute highlights the tension surrounding DB InfraGO's dual role as a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn and a network operator legally obligated to provide non-discriminatory access to infrastructure. While Deutsche Bahn currently holds roughly 95 percent of the long-distance market, the regulatory mandate aims to prevent the incumbent from monopolizing scarce track capacity.