Saxony’s Minister of Transportation, Regina Kraushaar (CDU), warns of the consequences of rising track access fees for rail travelers in the Free State. The steadily rising fees that local public transit operators pay for the use of rail tracks “are poison for train service and jeopardize mobility across the region,” the CDU politician told the Leipziger Volkszeitung and the Sächsische Zeitung. Accordingly, the minister is calling for short-term aid from the federal government as well as new rules governing the level of fees in order to maintain train service. Several transit agencies have already scaled back their train services, citing rising costs. The Zweckverband Verkehrsverbund Ostsachsen—which is responsible for the Oberelbe Transport Association, among others, in eastern Saxony—expects nearly nine million euros in additional costs this year, according to its own calculations, as stated in a press release. In subsequent years, 14 million euros could be needed each year. The background to this is the expiration of a statutory price cap on rail usage by local public transit following a ruling by the European Court of Justice in March of this year. As a result, the Federal Network Agency had already reset the track access charges for this year. Copyright 2026, dpa (www.dpa.de). All rights reserved
