EU Court of Justice rules German track-price cap breaches EU law

The ERegG has to be amended; according to the operators' association Mofair the 2025 and 2026 track charges must be corrected retroactively, several hundred million euros would have to be settled nationwide between DB InfraGO, operators and the Länder, and without countermeasures regional rail service would be cut by at least 10 and probably 20%.

The European Court of Justice has declared the track-price cap introduced into the German Railway Regulation Act in 2016 (case C-770/24) contrary to EU law, after the Cologne Administrative Court referred the case following challenges by railway undertakings and DB InfraGO against the 2025 track-access charge system. According to the operators' association Mofair, the 2025 and 2026 charges must now be corrected retroactively: long-distance and freight operators could reclaim overpayments from DB InfraGO, which would have to recover them from regional rail operators and ultimately the Länder, with several hundred million euros to be settled nationwide; without countermeasures, regional rail service would be cut by at least 10 and more likely 20%. Mofair calls for a marginal-cost-based charging model that would cost the federal budget about EUR 1 billion a year if the Länder in return give up part of their regionalisation funds (just over EUR 3.8 billion) (LOK Report, 19 Mar 2026).