麻豆无码版

Government spending on Germany鈥檚 public transport brings clear economic benefits, but the planned railway investment package could trigger a price hike in the construction sector, according to two separate analyses looking at the financial impact of Germany鈥檚 public transport system, which plays a key role in the country鈥檚 decarbonisation plans but needs dozens of billions of euros in public money.

An commissioned by national railway company Deutsche Bahn and carried out by the Technical University of Munich found that every euro spent on public transport ultimately adds three euros to the country鈥檚 GDP. Operating buses, tramways, subway lines, or regional trains costs the country about 25 billion euros per year, but brings in roughly 75 billion euros in additional value added, the analysis found. 鈥淧ublic transport not only is a means of transportation, a tool for climate action, and a service of general interest, it also is a booster for the economy,鈥� said Jan Schilling, head of Deutsche Bahn鈥檚 regional department.

The economic benefits of public transport include easing the burden on commuters, the strengthening of local industries and tourism, fewer accidents in the transport sector, reduced land use, less noise and air pollution and also lower carbon emissions, the analysis said. 鈥淚f today鈥檚 transport volumes were fully transferred to motorised individual transport, this would lead to additional costs of nine billion euros per year,鈥� Deutsche Bahn argued.

However, a different analysis by economic research institute ifo found that construction costs in the railway sector have recently 鈥渆xploded,鈥� suggesting that the influx of public money into the transport sector encouraged companies to increase their margins. The analysis found that prices in railway construction had climbed twice as fast as those for road construction, meaning inflation could not fully explain the increase in overall costs, according to a by newspaper Tagesspiegel. The federal government and Deutsche Bahn increased investments four-fold between 2011 and 2024. But the proven physical amount of new installations only increased about 21 percent during the same period, the ifo found.

Since 2018, federal investments in Deutsche Bahn have increased markedly, partly due to the state-owned company鈥檚 role in climate policy. Deutsche Bahn also hopes to receive a large chunk of Germany鈥檚 500-billion-euro special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality. It wants to secure 148 billion euros to further expand and modernise the country鈥檚 railway network.