EVG warns Italo's German entry could cut long-distance rail to at least 16 cities

Italo's 2028 entry plan

Italy's Italo intends to launch long-distance passenger services on two German corridors starting in 2028: Munich–Frankfurt–Cologne–Dortmund and Munich–Berlin–Hamburg. The operator plans significant investment in rolling stock, but it is seeking assured access to the most profitable slots. Those slots are allocated by DB subsidiary InfraGo under the supervision of the Federal Network Agency.

The EVG study and 16 threatened cities

An internal analysis by the railway union EVG, reported by Bild am Sonntag, identifies at least 16 cities that would lose their ICE or IC stops if Italo secures the high-revenue routes. The list includes Aachen, Augsburg, Bamberg, Chemnitz, Cottbus, Freiburg, Ingolstadt, Jena, Magdeburg, Münster, Norddeich Mole, Osnabrück, Rostock, Saarbrücken, Schwerin and Singen. A further planned IC connection to Trier would also be dropped.

When Italo is allowed to cherry-pick and the railway is pushed off the main routes, that tears apart our long-distance transport. Cities get cut off, journeys become longer.

Passengers in the affected cities would have to use slower regional trains to reach a remaining long-distance station, the union warns.

The cross-subsidy logic

The EVG and Deutsche Bahn argue that the current network depends on internal cross-subsidies. Profits from busy intercity lines help cover the cost of serving smaller stations that are not commercially viable on their own. If the lucrative slots are handed to a competitor, DB would no longer be able, or willing, to maintain those feeder connections.

DB Fernverkehr chief Michael Peterson recently told Tagesspiegel that the network currently serves 120 stations. The company has stressed for weeks that while it does not oppose competition, long-distance services across the wider territory could disappear if profitable routes go to rivals.

Political pressure for a package solution

EVG chairman Martin Burkert is calling on Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder to impose "package solutions" in the slot-allocation process. Under that model, an operator winning a premium trunk route would also be obliged to serve smaller cities.

Whoever wants to make good money on the main lines should not consider themselves too good to call at cities like Schwerin, Augsburg or Jena.

Burkert told Bild am Sonntag that the transport minister must not "fold his hands in his lap" but must shape fair competition.