Bundestag reviews new rail line between Ulm and Augsburg

The roughly 66-77 km double-track new-build/upgrade line is meant to complement and speed up rail service between Neu-Ulm and Augsburg, with planned speeds up to 265 km/h. The spatial planning procedure concluded in May 2024, and in January 2026 documents for the parliamentary reservation review went to the Bundestag, receiving broad approval from the transport committee. The Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan budgets about EUR 2.039 billion (2015 price basis); construction is expected to start toward the end of the 2020s, though the source states no firm completion date exists yet (list value 2030 retained). Update (11 Feb 2026): The federal government has submitted its report on the outcome of preliminary planning and early public participation to the Bundestag (paper 21/3950) and recommends confirming DB InfraGO's preferred option as the basis for further planning; the Federal Railway Authority (EBA) considers the project economically sound. The federal government will not fund the region's additional demands on noise protection, project scope, regional services and alignment: if the core demands were met, costs would rise by up to EUR 8.25 billion, the benefit-cost ratio would fall below 1 and, under current law, the project could no longer be financed from federal funds (LOK Report, 11 Feb 2026). Update (21 May 2026): The Bundestag debated the federal government's report on preliminary planning (paper 21/3950) and adopted a resolution on the recommendation of the Transport Committee; CDU/CSU, AfD, SPD and Die Linke voted in favour and the Greens abstained. According to the report the project comprises a continuous four-track, electrified upgrade and new build in the Trans-European Rhine–Danube corridor; construction costs are put at EUR 8.15 billion. DB InfraGO's preferred option is to be tied to conditions (noise protection, strengthening the Ulm and Augsburg hubs, general overhaul of the existing line, new or reactivated stops, better regional services, regional demands along the route), with the benefit-cost ratio not allowed to fall below 1.0; the project is also to be fed into the staged implementation of the Deutschlandtakt and re-routed on a small scale at the Burgau drinking-water protection area. No completion date is given (LOK Report, 22 May 2026; second source: German Bundestag, printed paper 21/3950).