Mar­ket Anal­y­sis

Railway Market Analysis 2022

Especially in the winter months, rail passenger service in 2021 was characterised by sharp declines in demand as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Demand was at levels only around one furth to one third of pre-pandemic levels. Rail freight transport was no longer affected by the pandemic in 2021 and the number of tonne-kilometres increased by more than 13 percent.

These are the findings of the Railway Market Analysis 2022, which is now available as a download below. As in previous years, the Bundesnetzagentur has published its findings and analyses from the market survey carried out for the 2021 reporting year in its report entitled "Railway Market Analysis 2022".

Railway undertakings under public service obligation were bolstered by the government's rescue package for local public transport. Track access charge assistance improved the economic situation for railway undertakings in rail freight transport and long-distance passenger rail transport. In spite of the financial assistance, the overall market had a negative net income in 2021.

Railway Market Analysis Germany 2022 (pdf / 3 MB)


Railway Market Analysis 2021

The coronavirus pandemic severely impacted the German railway market throughout 2020. Transport performance of both rail passenger and rail freight transport declined for the first time since the Bundesnetzagentur began recording market data. Long-distance rail passenger transport saw the steepest decline, with a 50% drop in passenger kilometres, followed by regional and local rail passenger transport, which fell by more than 40% compared with 2019. Rail freight transport also saw a 4% decrease in tonne-kilometres.

Competitors to non-federally owned railway undertakings were nonetheless able to maintain their shares of the market in 2020. They were particularly successful in the rail freight sector, obtaining a share of 55% of that market. Competitors’ market share of the regional and local passenger transport sector grew from 28% to 33%, due mostly to new contracts that were awarded to competitors. The market share of non-federally-owned railway undertakings in the long-distance rail passenger transport sector, which were unable to operate during the pandemic, fell from 4% to 2% percent in 2020.

Overall transport performance in Germany decreased from 1.122bn train kilometres in 2019 to 1.097bn train kilometres in 2020. Rail companies nevertheless hired more personnel in 2020 (a 4% increase compared with 2019) and currently have a total of 173,000 employees.

Railway Market Analysis 2021 (pdf / 12 MB)

Special edition of the Railway Market Analysis 2021-
Market developments under conditions caused by the Covid-19-pandemic

Special edition of the Railway Market Analysis 2021-
Market developments under conditions caused by the Covid-19-pandemic

The Bundesnetzagentur analysed the development of the German railway market in 2020 under conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Transport performance fell by up to 75%ransport performance decreased by around 5%, with a particularly slow second quarter. Freight transport in the second half of 2020 remained stable. As was the case with regional passenger rail services, rail freight transport through non-federally owned providers gained market share.

Lower utilisation of train capacities and of the railway network helped to significantly improve punctuality in rail transport.

Railway undertakings incurred costs of around €100m for health or cleaning measures related to the pandemic for protecting employees and customers. With a focus on local public transport, a state rescue package was put in place that, among other things, compensated the local public transport railway undertakings for lost revenue. The railway undertakings are nevertheless suffer-ing heavy losses caused by the pandemic.

Furthermore, the special report includes analyses taken by IRG-Rail to show the effects of the pandemic on a European level.

Special edition of the Railway Market Analysis 2021- Market developments under conditions caused by the Covid-19-pandemic (pdf / 2 MB)


Railway Market Analysis 2020

Railway Market Analysis 2020

The railway transport and railway infrastructure undertakings recorded a further increase in sales in 2019. The turnover of the railway companies rose to 22.0 billion euros and of the railway infra-structure undertakings to 6.8 billion euros. These are the results of the Railway Market Analysis 2020, which is available for download below. As in previous years, the Federal Network Agency publishes the results and analyzes from the market survey carried out for the 2019 reporting year in the publication "Railway Market Analysis Germany 2020".

In rail freight transport, competitors were able to increase their market share in the transport per-formance from 52 percent in 2018 to 54 percent in 2019. As a result of Flixtrain's entry into the market and the takeover of night train services from Deutsche Bahn by the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), the share of competitors in long-distance passenger rail transport rose to around four percent. An increase in traffic performance was recorded in local and long-distance passen-ger rail transport. The operating performance on public railways increased from 1.15 billion train-path kilometers in 2018 to 1.122 billion train-kilometers in 2019.

The report also contains the results of a survey on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pan-demic on the rail market in the first half year 2020. Companies in the long-distance passenger rail transport suffered the sharpest decline in sales. The month with the weakest demand was April 2020. For the second half year 2020, an estimate was made based on a scenario analysis.

Railway Market Analysis 2020 (pdf / 16 MB)

Railway Market Analysis 2019

Railway Market Analysis 2019

In the rail freight segment, the competitors to Deutsche Bahn now operate more than fifty percent of the traffic volume of the market. They increased their market shares in transport services from 47 percent in 2017 to the current 51 percent in the year 2018. In the long-distance passenger rail transport, Flixtrain entered the German rail market. Additionally, ÖBB, which took over the night trains from the DB AG, is another new competitor in the long-distance rail passenger segment.

Both in rail freight and the long-distance passenger rail transport, an increase in the traffic volumes in net-tonne-kilometres and passenger-kilometres can be observed. The volume of train-kilometres provided on public train paths increased from 1.104 billion in 2017 to 1.115 billion in the year 2018.

The above-mentioned findings are outcomes of the market survey carried out during 2019 for the reporting year 2018. The Bundesnetzagentur has published its analyses from the market survey in its report entitled Railway Market Analysis 2019, which is available for download.

The railway market survey is carried out annually by the Bundesnetzagentur as required by the statutory provisions of the Rail Regulation Act (ERegG). The Act puts an obligation on all market players to participate in the Bundesnetzagentur's market survey, which eventually might be enforced by imposing administrative fines.

Railway Market Analysis 2019 (PDF / 6 MB)

Railway Market Analysis 2018

Railway Market Analysis 2018

Continued growth in transport services and rising revenues were observed at the railway undertakings and infrastructure managers in 2017. Revenues at railway undertakings rose to €20.7 billion, while infrastructure managers' revenues rose to €6.4 billion. These are the findings of the Railway Market Analysis 2018, which is now available as a download below. As in previous years, the Bundesnetzagentur has published its findings and analyses from the market survey carried out in the 2017 reporting year in its report entitled "Railway Market Analysis 2018".

The competitors to Deutsche Bahn in the rail freight segment were able to increase their market share in transport services from 46 percent in 2016 to the current 47 percent. The share held by competitors in short-distance passenger rail transport and long-distance passenger rail transport, however, remained unchanged. There was growth once again in all types of transport services when compared with the previous year. Transport on the public rail network increased from 1,096 billion train path kilometres in 2016 to 1,104 billion train path kilometres in 2017.

The railway sector market survey is carried out by the Bundesnetzagentur as required by the statutory provisions of the Rail Regulation Act (ERegG). The Act places an obligation on all market players to participate in the Bundesnetzagentur's market survey, which may be enforced by warning of, or by imposing, administrative fines.

Market Analyses Railway 2018 (PDF / 6 MB)

Railway Market Analysis 2017

Railway Market Analysis 2017

Growing revenues were observed among railway undertakings and infrastructure managers in 2016. The revenues generated by railway undertakings rose to €20.1 billion; this figure was €6.3 billion for infrastructure managers. These are some of the many findings from the Railway Mar-ket Analysis 2017 which can be downloaded below. As in the previous year, the Bundesnet-zagentur published the results and analyses from its 2016 market survey in the Railway Market Analysis 2017.

The competitors in the rail freight segment grew their share of the market for transport services from 41 percent in 2015 to 46 percent in 2016. The share held by competitors in the short-distance passenger rail transport segment also increased, from 22 percent to 26 percent. By contrast, the share held by competitors in the long-distance passenger rail transport segment continued to be less than one percent. Operating performance on public train paths rose once again, from 1.078 billion train-path kilometres in 2015 to 1.098 billion train-path kilometres in 2016.

The 2017 market survey conducted by the Bundesnetzagentur in the railway sector marks the first time that this survey was carried out on the basis of the provisions of the Rail Regulation Act. Under this law, all market participants are obligated to take part in the Bundesnetzagentur's market survey. This obligation can also be enforced. Due to the market participants’ obligation to provide information to the Bundesnetzagentur, a greater number of enterprises took part in the market survey during the 2016 reporting period than in previous years.

Market Analyses Railway 2017 (PDF / 10 MB)

Railway Market Analysis 2016

Railway Market Analysis 2016

More traffic on the rails: Growing transport volumes were observed for all categories of transport services in 2015. Both the rail freight transport segment and short-distance passenger rail transport segment reported new records according to the Railway Market Analysis 2016 which is now available for download on the website of the Bundesnetzagentur. As in the foregoing year, the Bundesnetzagentur publishes in the Railway Market Analysis 2016 the results and analyses from the market survey it conducted in 2015.

Revenue generated by enterprises operating in the railway market increased slightly year-on-year, from €19.0 billion to €19.2 billion, a record high. This increase was due to revenue growth seen in the short-distance passenger rail transport segment and the rail freight transport segment. By contrast, revenue in the long-distance passenger rail transport segment declined slightly. Infrastructure managers generated a total of €6 billion in revenue from usage charges in 2015. This represents an increase of 3.4 per cent. Sixty-seven per cent of the railway undertakings generated a positive operating result for the year 2015.

The competitors in the rail freight market grew their market share of transport services provided from 36 per cent in 2014 to 41 per cent in 2015. The market share held by the competitors in the short-distance passenger rail transport segment increased from 19 per cent to 22 per cent. The share held by competitors in the long-distance passenger rail transport segment continued to be less than one per cent. Operating performance on public train paths reached a new record high and rose from 1.064 billion train-path kilometres in 2014 to 1.078 billion train-path kilometres in 2015.

The charges paid for using railway infrastructure represent a significant share of a railway enter-prise’s total costs. These charges continued to rise in 2015. All in all, enterprises operating in the rail freight transport segment had to expend 17 per cent of their revenue on infrastructure charg-es. This figure was some 25 per cent of revenue in the long-distance passenger rail transport segment and approximately 39 per cent in the short-distance passenger rail transport segment.

Market Analysis Railway 2016 (PDF / 6 MB)

Railway Market Analysis 2015

Railway Market Analysis 2015

It was a mixed year for the railway industry in 2014: Revenues of companies in the railways market rose moderately to a new record level of €19bn. However, growth in transport services was only reported in rail freight traffic. As regards the passenger rail service, there was a decline in traffic volume. This is the conclusion of the Railway Market Analysis 2015, which is now available as a download on the Bundesnetzagentur's web site. The same as last year, the Bundesnetzagentur has published the "Railway Market Analysis 2015" with findings and analyses taken from the market survey it carried out in 2014. The latest analysis shows that in 2014 most railway undertakings reported a positive operating result.

Revenues in the railway transport market as a whole increased by 1.6%. This increase was due to revenue growth in short-distance passenger rail transport and in rail freight traffic, in contrast, however, revenues from long-distance passenger rail transport remained steady. Infrastructure operators achieved total sales revenue in 2014 of €5.8bn from usage charges, up 3.6%.

Competitors to Deutsche Bahn companies for rail freight traffic were able to increase their market share in transport services from 33% in 2013 to 36% in 2014. While the competitors' share remained steady at 19% in short-distance passenger rail transport, in long-distance passenger rail transport it continued to fall significantly below one per cent. The operating performance on the public rail network rose from 1,056bn train path kilometres in 2013 to 1,064bn train path kilometres in 2014.

The charges due for the use of the railway infrastructure, which make up a significant portion of the total costs of a railway undertaking, increased once again in 2014. Overall, the rail freight traffic companies had to pay about 17% of their revenue, the long-distance passenger rail transport companies about 24% of their revenue and the short-distance passenger rail transport companies about 38% of their revenue in infrastructure charges.

Railways Market Analysis 2015 (PDF / 7 MB)

Railway Market Analysis 2014

Railway Market Analysis 2014

Due to the continued positive growth of the passenger and freight volumes in the year 2013, the railway undertakings’ revenues increased slightly again and reached a new record level. The operating result of most railway undertakings was positive. A growing competitor share was observed in the short-distance passenger rail transport segment and the rail freight transport segment. Track access charges and station prices for infrastructure use continued to rise in 2013. This is the result which is presented in the Railway Market Analysis 2014. This document can be downloaded on Bundesnetzagentur’s website. In the “Railway Market Analysis 2014” report, Bundesnetzagentur publishes results and analyses from the market survey carried out for the respected year 2013.

Railways Market Analysis 2014 (pdf / 3 MB)

Railway Market Analysis 2013

Having increased in the previous years, the market position of the German railway undertakings became stronger in 2012. Due to growing transport demand in the passenger transport segment, the railway undertakings’ revenues reached a new record level. This is the result that the Railway Market Analysis 2013 reached. This document can be downloaded on the Bundesnetzagentur’s website. In the “Railway Market Analysis 2013” report, the Bundesnetzagentur publishes results and analyses from the market survey which was carried out in 2013.

Railway Market Analysis 2013 (pdf / 604 KB)

Railway Market Analysis 2011

Position paper on "access to marshalling yards and other train formation facilities"

(final version taking statements received into account, as of 16 December 2010)

Position Paper 16 December 2010 (pdf / 124 KB)

Mastodon