Federal government withdraws from planning Mannheim rail hub

According to mobility minister Katrin Eder, S-Bahn services from Mannheim to Kaiserslautern and Speyer cannot be strengthened for a long time. The hub is classed in the 2030 Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan as a bottleneck removal in the highest-priority category.

The federal government's cut list for rail projects also covers planning for the expansion of the Mannheim rail hub; the Rhineland-Palatinate transport minister complains that this rules out more S-Bahn services to Kaiserslautern and Speyer for a long time and that Mannheim main station already lacks capacity. She points out that the federal government released an extra EUR 3 billion for road building in October 2025 (LOK Report, 19 Jan 2026).