Deutsche Bahn still cannot run 15 per cent of its routes in the areas damaged by the massive July 2021 floods. It will take another two years to reopen all the affected routes in their entirety.

Last year, some 600 kilometres of track, 50 bridges, 40 signal boxes and 180 level crossings were damaged or destroyed, especially in hard-hit North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. The total cost of the railway infrastructure came out at 1,3 billion euros.

According to DB, it has repaired, renovated and rebuilt more than 510 kilometres of tracks, over 150 level crossings and 14 bridges. It also carried out work at 50 train stations in the affected area.

“Now it is a matter of restoring the rest of the infrastructure – where the damage was worst: by the end of 2023, trains should be able to travel the entire Eifel route again, and two years later travel without interruption from Remagen to Ahrbrück”, DB CEO Richard Lutz said.

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• Belgium-Germany: estimated costs for flood damage repairs reach billions

• Flood update – rail freight in northwest Germany paralysed