After several days of contradictory signals, Germany has a new transport minister. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed Steffen Bilger from the CDU as successor to Patrick Schnieder. The official transfer of office is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Schnieder had requested his dismissal on Sunday of his own accord. According to his statement, he wanted to end an "undignified state" that made objective work in the ministry barely possible. It had previously become known that Merz was planning a change, but an initially intended successor was not available at short notice. Only then was Bilger presented.
Bilger does not need to completely familiarize himself with the ministry. The 47-year-old lawyer has sat in the Bundestag since 2009 and was Parliamentary State Secretary in the then-Federal Transport Ministry from 2018 to 2021. Most recently, he was First Parliamentary Director of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
For the transport and logistics industry, however, this political theater is secondary. What matters is whether open projects will now be implemented more quickly. These include rail network rehabilitation, dilapidated bridges, insufficient capacity, lengthy approval procedures, and reliable funding over several years.
The track access pricing system is also acute. Track access prices are, in simplified terms, the fees that railway companies pay for using the rail network. The Federal Network Agency has set new prices for 2026. Compared to the previous approval, prices for rail freight transport at DB InfraGO are falling by twelve percent. At the same time, prices in regional passenger transport are rising by nine percent. Retroactive billing corrections are to be made directly between the railway companies and infrastructure operators.
The ministerial change initially does not change this. Bilger must now demonstrate whether the available billions will actually result in additional capacity, fewer disruptions, and better-coordinated construction sites.