The cabinet of the government today passed the Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 with a total volume of 269.6 billion euros. The largest part of 132.8 billion euros are marked for Germany’s roads, 112.3 billion euros for rail transport and 24.5 billion euros for waterways. At a press conference, federal transport minister Alexander Dobrindt presented the scheme as a “plan that also puts a lot of emphasis on the development of rail transport”, while also saying that the German Autobahn (motorway) was the “backbone of mobility in Germany”.

Dobrindt’s plan had faced criticism in recent days. Several members of the Green group in the Bundestag had said that the plan “ignores almost everything that has ever been agreed upon in terms of climate and environment protection”. Maria Krautzberger, president of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), had asked for more focus on rail transport. But Dobrindt told the press conference that the Paris climate agreement played a role in the plan’s negotiations: “We are very interested in furthering climate protection through the expansion of our transport routes. And we succeeded with this transport infrastructure plan.” Dobrindt said that rail transport was much more considered than in the previous plan and that investments in roads were necessary to avoid traffic jams as “possibly the largest economic and ecologic damage that we experience every day”.

Find the press release and the infrastructure plan in German here.

Read a CLEW dossier on the transport sector and the Energiewende.