Competition Symposium

Symposium on Competition & Regulation in the Rail Sector, January 29, 2026

Intelligent regulation, competitive track access charges, more capacity for better operating quality: the participants at this year's symposium discussed ways and means of increasing the performance of the railways in Germany and Europe. The tasks are pressing and the importance of rail is growing in line with the requirements for military mobility.

Professor Jörg Rocholl, President of the European School of Management and Technology, sees the rail sector as facing the complex task of combining performance, reliability and growth. This requires appropriate entrepreneurial strategies and regulatory framework conditions. DB CEO Evelyn Palla also emphasized that the framework for the rail system needs to be readjusted in order for the railroads to improve. This applies above all to the track access charging system and the Infraplan, the central control instrument for the infrastructure. This must still be finalized in 2026. Adequate and predictable funding over the course of a year is a prerequisite for efficiency and controllability in the system. When it comes to reforming Deutsche Bahn AG, Palla is focusing on streamlining, less bureaucracy, more local responsibility and more entrepreneurship.

Rail must also become more competitive at European level. Oana Gherghinescu, Executive Director of the European Railway Agency (ERA), wants to consistently align the agency's procedures and processes with the standards of interoperability and cost efficiency. She sees the European rail traffic management system ERTMS as the key to capacity, safety and cross-border traffic. Standardization is indispensable here. Individual solutions in the EU member states would lead to further fragmentation and higher costs.

Andreas Gehlhaar, Head of the Railways Department at the German Federal Ministry for Transport, Regina Kraushaar, Saxon State Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Dr. Markus Hunkel, Chief Executive Officer of RDC Deutschland GmbH, Joachim Berends, Vice-President and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Rail Freight Transport Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen e. V. (VDV), and Dr. Philipp Nagl, Chief Executive Officer of DB InfraGO AG, discussed necessary reforms to the train path pricing system as part of a panel. The panel made clear the high pressure to act. Declining market shares showed that rail was losing competitiveness. There was agreement in principle on the advantages of lower track access charges, for example based on marginal costs. However, Gehlhaar drew attention to a funding gap that would arise if capacity and quality were to be maintained. It was emphasized that the existing grant scheme for track access charges must be continued as long as the reform has not been implemented.

"Capacity management as a lever for reliable rail transport" was the topic of a panel discussion with John Voppen, Chief Executive Officer ProRail, Dr. Daniela Brönstrup, Vice President of the German Federal Network Agency, Kerstin Haarmann, VCD Verkehrsclub Deutschland, Oliver Wittke, Member of the Executive Committee of the Bundesverband SchienenNahverkehr, and Dr. Matthias Feil, Head of Timetable, Capacity Management and Network Access at DB InfraGO AG. Voppen reported on levers and measures used to improve the operating quality of rail in the Netherlands. In Germany, the "Reliable Rail" task force convened by Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder is intended to make rapid and effective progress towards improving quality and more efficient capacity management. The discussants identified potential for optimization, particularly in the areas of construction site management, junction relief, communication and digitalization.