Germany’s rail freight sector contracted in 2025 as weaker industrial activity and the ongoing restructuring of DB Cargo weighed on the country’s logistics market, according to a special market analysis published by Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).
Rail freight transport performance fell by 5.4% year-on-year to 127 billion tonne-kilometres, while operating performance declined by 5.1% to 238 million train-kilometres. Despite the downturn in freight, overall railway operating performance remained broadly stable at around 1.125 billion train-kilometres, supported by resilient passenger traffic.
The regulator said the decline was driven primarily by DB Cargo, which continued its restructuring programme throughout the year. The company’s operating performance dropped by around 20%, while its transport performance fell by more than 21%. Competing freight operators absorbed part of the lost traffic, although this was not enough to prevent an overall contraction of the market.
As a result, non-federally owned railway undertakings further strengthened their position in Germany’s rail freight market. Their combined share increased to 67%, while federally owned operators accounted for the remaining 33%, meaning private and independent operators now handle two-thirds of the country’s rail freight transport.
The report also points to the broader economic environment as a key factor behind the weaker performance. Industrial production remained subdued throughout much of 2025 and economic activity stagnated towards the end of the year, reducing demand for freight transport. Monthly figures show rail freight volumes remained below 2024 levels during every month of the year, with several months recording double-digit declines.
Although volumes declined, operators slightly improved train utilisation. The average freight load increased from 551 tonnes in 2024 to 556 tonnes in 2025, indicating efforts to optimise efficiency despite weaker demand.
Beyond market performance, the Bundesnetzagentur highlighted persistent infrastructure challenges affecting network reliability. Delay incidents linked to train sequencing and infrastructure managers have continued to increase across the DB InfraGO network over the past four years.
However, the country’s first fully modernised rail corridor, the Riedbahn, delivered encouraging results after reopening. Infrastructure- and construction-related delay incidents fell from around 15,800 to 9,200 during the first twelve months following the upgrade, while total delay minutes declined by 33%, from approximately 143,400 to 95,700 minutes.
The report also provides an early snapshot of Germany’s progress towards railway digitalisation. More than 550 vehicle owners participated in the regulator’s first nationwide survey on ETCS deployment, reporting approximately 20,000 rail vehicles. Among German operators, only 1,860 vehicles are currently equipped with ETCS, representing just 13% of the relevant fleet and highlighting the scale of investment still required to modernise the country’s rail network.
