Future of the Franconia-Saxony mainline: Now or never for the railway!

Future of the Franconia-Saxony mainline: Now or never for the railway!

On October 17, 2025, members of the Bundestag and residents of the Franconia-Saxony Mainline met at the Bavarian State Representation in Berlin to discuss the current challenges and opportunities for the international railway line. State Minister Christian Bernreiter, who chaired the meeting, made it clear: The conditions for completing the mainline are now favorable. However, the decisive course for this will be set with the 2026 federal budget bayreuth.de reported.

A central concern of the discussion was the fate of the Franconia-Saxony mainline, which will require extensive modernization in the coming years. DB InfraGO is planning to renew the 18 Pegnitz bridges and electrify the route from Nuremberg to the upper Pegnitz valley, which is seen as a crucial step towards minimizing route closure times. According to the tenor, the major projects should start from 2030.

Necessities and challenges

Local politicians, including Mayor Thomas Ebersberger and District Administrator Florian Wiedemann, emphasized the importance of planning funds in the coming federal budget. They warned of serious consequences if the route was closed for several months to repair the Pegnitz bridges, which could significantly affect freight and passenger traffic. Mayor Ebersberger appealed to politicians to take advantage of the opportunity to resume planning immediately so as not to further endanger trust in the ability of the railways and the federal government to act.

The signs point to a storm. Like the Bundestag member Dr. Jonas Geissler emphasizes that the financing of the planning costs in the 2026 budget depends crucially on the political weighting. The need for a future-proof solution that implements bridge renovation and electrification at the same time was also emphasized by State Minister Bernreiter. He was annoyed about avoidable delays that are currently holding up construction work.

EU funding as an opportunity

In addition to national funding, there are also opportunities at the European level. Around 479 million euros will be made available for 19 projects in Germany, of which more than 80 percent will go to railway projects, underlining how much the European transport sector is supported by the EU. The development of cross-border connections is also strongly encouraged, so those responsible for the Franconia-Saxony Mainline can perhaps hope for a good deal of support here, like that European Commission announced.

The European Union has provided over 7 billion euros in grants for transport infrastructure in its Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which could also support the expansion of rail infrastructure in Germany. These funds offer a good opportunity to advance necessary projects such as the electrification and modernization of the Franconia-Saxony mainline.

The discussion once again showed what is at stake. The need to strengthen trust in the state's ability to act is obvious. Time is of the essence and it is important to resolutely take advantage of the many opportunities that present themselves.