Germany postpones start of Brenner North Route rail link to Munich

The Brenner Base Tunnel is nearing completion, with about 90 % of the work finished. To complement the tunnel, the Brenner‑North Route is planned to provide a continuous high‑speed railway from Munich to Verona, linking Austria and Italy. The route was fixed in mid‑2022 after decades of studies and discussions, and the German section was defined in 2012.

Construction on the German side has not yet begun. Strong opposition from local residents around Rosenheim, including the Bürgerinitiative Nordzulauf Kolbermoor, has stalled progress. The Federal Ministry of Transport indicated that the project should enter parliamentary consideration in the first half of 2026, but no formal proposal has been submitted to the Bundestag. Even if approved, further legal challenges by opponents could delay the start of building.

The delay means that the anticipated reduction of road freight—currently about 2.5 million truck trips per year on the Brenner highway—into rail transport will be postponed, affecting the broader goal of shifting traffic from the congested Brenner Autobahn to rail.