German Freight Track Access Charges Cut 12% in 2026 Reset

German freight track access charges will fall by 12% under a revised 2026 pricing system that shifts about EUR 400m of network costs back to regional passenger services.

Freight and long-distance operators receive lower rates

Germany’s Federal Network Agency revised the 2026 charges⁠ on 22 July, revoking the approvals issued to DB InfraGO and DB RegioNetz Infrastruktur in December 2025.

Track access charges are the fees railway undertakings and other authorised users pay infrastructure managers to operate trains on their networks.

Compared with the previously approved 2026 amounts, DB InfraGO’s charges will decrease by 12% for rail freight and 17% for long-distance passenger services. Regional passenger rail charges will rise by 9%.

DB RegioNetz Infrastruktur will apply similar changes: freight charges will fall by 14%, long-distance passenger charges by 18%, and regional passenger charges will increase by 11%.

Together, the revisions will add approximately EUR 400m to regional passenger rail charges while providing corresponding reductions for freight and long-distance operators.

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EU judgment overturned Germany’s pricing brake

Germany’s former “track access charge brake” limited annual regional passenger rail increases through a rate linked to the Regionalisation Act rather than DB InfraGO’s actual cost development.

The mechanism shifted a larger proportion of infrastructure costs onto freight and long-distance passenger operators, particularly during the 2025 approval process.

Several railway undertakings, DB InfraGO and DB RegioNetz Infrastruktur challenged the system before the Cologne Administrative Court. The court referred the question to the European Court of Justice.

In its 19 March 2026 judgment in case C-770/24⁠, the court found that Germany’s statutory calculation method was incompatible with EU rules protecting the management independence of railway infrastructure operators.

Retroactive invoice corrections will follow

The revised charges and retroactive corrections will be settled directly between the infrastructure managers, railway undertakings and other access holders.

DB InfraGO previously said⁠ that correcting invoices after approval would take several months. The Federal Network Agency also expects to decide later in 2026 whether the 2025 charges should be cancelled and recalculated.