Germany updates: Railroad operator wants modernization delay – DW – 07/10/2025

DW

10-07-2025

Railway operator Deutsche Bahn wants to delay modernization projects for a further year. Volkswagen has stopped delivering its ID.Buzz to the US, with US tariffs cited as one reason, a media report says. Read more here. State-owned German national railroad operator Deutsche Bahn has said it wants to delay modernization plans for key routes by another year to 2036 after it previously suggested a four-year delay to 2035 in late June.
The refurbishment of more than 40 high-use railroad lines nationwide is now to take at least five years longer than was originally planned.
German carmaker Volkswagen has put a temporary stop to deliveries of its electric van model ID.Buzz to the US, a newspaper says, quoting sources at the firm as saying US tariffs were one factor in the move.
Meanwhile, spot checks put in place by Poland are causing difficulties to people living on both sides of the German-Polish border.
State-owned German national railroad operator Deutsche Bahn has said it wants to delay modernization plans for key routes by another year to 2036 after it previously suggested a four-year delay to 2035 in late June.
The refurbishment of more than 40 high-use railroad lines nationwide is now to take at least five years longer than was originally planned.
The modernization of German railroads is seen as urgently needed to prevent the frequent delays and malfunctions currently suffered by passengers and freight companies.
The Association of Freight Railways has said it approves of the planned further postponement of the modernization projects, saying it will allow them to be better prepared.
Last year, Deutsche Bahn successfully refurbished the line between Frankfurt and Mannheim, the first such project to be completed.
From August, the key line between Berlin and Hamburg is to be closed off for months while modernization is carried out.
Authorities in eastern Germany have arrested two people, a 53-year-old man and a 56-year-old woman, who are suspected of holding a 19-year-old woman hostage in a barn.
Police freed the woman from the barn in the town of Vogelsberg in the state of Thuringia on Tuesday after being alerted by her calls for help during a search of a property, according to broadcaster MDR.
She was reportedly trapped in a box.
The young woman had been reported missing in Vogelsberg on Sunday, with police launching an immediate search operation, as she was reported to be on medication.
Germany's Federal Statistical Office on Wednesday confirmed that the country's inflation rate was at 2% in June, the lowest monthly figure since October 2024.
The figure is down 0.1 of a percentage point from May.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has set a target of precisely 2% inflation for the eurozone.
In recent years, consumer prices have stabilized in Germany after the high of 8.8% inflation in late 2022 driven by the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, has forecast inflation to remain around 2% in the coming months.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has called on Israel to save "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip from dying of starvation and to give them the aid they need.
"That is Israel's obligation. International aid organizations must immediately be granted comprehensive access to be able to bring humanitarian aid to the people," he said on Thursday before traveling to Vienna, Austria, where he was to meet his Israeli counterpart.
Wadephul also called on the Palestinian militant group Hamas to lay down its arms and to release any hostages it is still holding in the Gaza Strip.
He said Palestinians needed to have a future in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem for there to be a long-lasting peace, but that it should be without Hamas as rulers in Gaza.
"Never again must a massacre like that on October 7, 2023, be conducted," he said, referring to Hamas-led raids in southern Israel on that date in which some 1,200 people, most civilians, were killed and around 250 hostages taken.
Israel responded to the attacks with an offensive in Gaza against Hamas in which more than 57,000 Palestinians have so far been killed, according to figures provided by authorities in the Hamas-run enclave.
Police in Australia have issued a public appeal for help as they continue their nationwide search for a 26-year-old German woman who went missing more than a week ago while backpacking in the state of Western Australia.
Carolina Wilga was last seen on June 29 at a general store in the small agricultural town of Beacon, situated to the northeast of the state capital, Perth.
"Carolina departed that area about five minutes later and has not been seen or heard from since," homicide squad detective senior sergeant Katharine Venn told reporters.
Venn said Wilga had planned to travel into remote areas of the state but also to the eastern coast, meaning that the search needed to cover a huge area.
She said there was so far no evidence that a third party was involved in the disappearance, but that all lines of inquiry were being followed.
Police said Wilga has spent two years in Australia backpacking and working at mine sites in Western Australia.
daily later reported that a van belonging to Wilga had been found unattended near Karroun Hill, some 300 km (186 miles) northeast of Perth.
The paper said that the vehicle appeared to have suffered mechanical issues.
Residents living at the border between Germany and Poland have long been used to traveling freely and easily between the two countries.
But now, Poland has introduced spot border checks, following a similar move by Germany in October 2023.
And although authorities promised that EU nationals would not suffer inconvenience, people in the region say otherwise, as this report from DW describes: German-Polish border checks: 'They make our life difficult'
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German carmaker Volkswagen is currently not delivering its ID.Buzz model to the US, according to the daily .
The paper cited sources at the company as saying that the high tariffs imposed by the US Trump administration were one reason for the cessation of deliveries, along with a recall because of the dimensions of the electric van's third-row seat.
Two people at the company said the tariffs of 27.5% imposed by the US in April on imports of new cars constructed in Europe had been a factor in the move. Previously, tariffs of just 2.5% had been in place.
The ID.Buzz has also faced a recall by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) because its third-row seats do not meet US federal safety standards. These require seats of that size to have three seatbelts rather than the two currently fitted.
VW is reportedly responding to the recall by reducing the size of the seats.
On Wednesday, VW said its total vehicle deliveries to North America had fallen almost 7% in the first half of the year, although overall deliveries worldwide had risen by 1.3%.
on this sunny day in Bonn, as DW starts with its roundup of news from Germany.
Germany's car industry is not just one of the country's major economic drivers, but also a source of national pride, so the reports that carmaker Volkswagen is temporarily stopping delivery of a model to the US is likely to make waves.
Germany has also been leading the way in imposing border checks despite the freedom of movement previously guaranteed by the Schengen zone. A reciprocal move by Poland is now making life difficult for residents at the border between the two countries.
Here, DW will bring you reports, explainers and analyses on these and other stories from Europe's strongest economy. We wish you enjoyable reading!