Bundestag and Bundesrat pass Infrastructure Future Act

Transport infrastructure, on rail including expansion, new-build and replacement, counts for the first time as being of overriding public interest and is favoured in permitting; electrification, platforms, signalling and control technology and passing and crossing loops can be built to a wider extent without a formal plan-approval procedure, and electrification of up to 180 km is exempt from environmental impact assessment. Industry associations welcome the speed-up but call for reliable federal funding, statutory cut-off dates and more equal treatment of non-federal railways.

On 10 July 2026 the Bundesrat approved the Infrastructure Future Act, which the federal cabinet had adopted on 17 December 2025 (expert hearing in the transport committee on 16 March 2026) and the Bundestag had passed on 26 June 2026 and which is meant to shorten planning and permitting for transport projects. Infrastructure projects thus count for the first time as being of overriding public interest; during the parliamentary process, more works exempt from plan approval (including electrification, platforms, signalling and control technology, and passing and crossing loops), exemptions from environmental impact assessment for electrification of up to 180 km, four more cross-border lines in the federal rail expansion act and rules for fully automated driving in rail operations were added. DB InfraGO cites more than 175 larger expansion and new-build projects plus several hundred smaller measures that are meant to benefit, such as a 740 m passing loop at Sinzig, five slope stabilisations near Bad Friedrichshall and platform roof extensions at Schorndorf station. The DVF and the VDV additionally call for funding reform or reliable federal funding and for statutory cut-off dates; the VDV also objects that non-federal railways and municipal transport infrastructure are not given equal priority status. (LOK Report, 17 Dec 2025, 19 Mar, 26 Jun, 10 Jul and 14 Jul 2026)