DB InfraGO to electrify Cologne–Trier Eifel line by end of 2028

DB InfraGO has been electrifying the roughly 160 km Eifel line between Cologne and Trier since autumn 2024; Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia pay for it, and the reports give no figure. According to a DB report of 5 November 2025, about 1,000 of the roughly 5,000 catenary masts will be up by the end of the year, ten tunnels and 56 bridges must be adapted and ten traction power substations built; to allow this, DB will forgo individual line closures for three years, bundle the work in 2027/2028 and run trains almost continuously from 30 March 2026 to 25 March 2027. On 1 October 2025 DB reported the Gerolstein interlocking, the last section of the new control and safety technology, fully in service, while the Eifelquerbahn association and PRO BAHN Rhineland-Palatinate pointed on 21 October 2025 to a DB tender that drew no bids for two sections totalling about 35 km and fear delays of several years. The date is a placeholder: only commissioning in December 2028 is given. (LOK Report, 1 Oct, 21 Oct and 5 Nov 2025)