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Train with hard coal in the port of Hamburg: Since the end of 2018, all of it has been imported
Photo: Morris MacMatzen/Getty Images
Construction sites, vacation time, nine-euro tickets - and now the coal trains: Deutsche Bahn is being delayed more often than it has been since 2010. According to an association, giving priority to coal transport by rail could lead to further network overload.
The managing director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, Dirk Flege, warns: "Priority for coal transports is an additional challenge for the already heavily frequented parts of the rail network." In fact, just 58 percent of long-distance trains were on time recently.
The background is the latest energy security package from Economics Minister Robert Habeck.
It aims to ensure transport capacities for fuel supply by rail.
In order to save gas, coal-fired power plants are to be taken out of reserve.
Violation of existing train path contracts?
According to the paper by the Green Party politician, the plan is for the conditions of use of the rail network to be adjusted in the short term as a first step in order to prioritize the transport of mineral oil and coal when free train paths are allocated.
"We expect the industry to be closely involved in the difficult question of which transports may have to make way," Flege now demanded.
»It is already becoming apparent that Germany's rail network will become even more crowded in the coming months.
That doesn't bode well for the punctuality of passenger and freight trains.«
If coal transports were given priority, these trains would also have priority over passenger transport.
Deutsche Bahn's competitors in freight transport are skeptical as to whether such a measure could be implemented quickly.
"At least until mid-December 2022, priority would affect existing train path contracts," said Peter Westenberger, Managing Director of the European Railway Network (NEE).
A change in the terms of use of the network is needed, which would have to be checked by the Federal Network Agency.
One thing is clear: the hard coal will have to cover long transport routes.
The mining of domestic hard coal ended in December 2018 in the Ruhr area.
apr/dpa
