ERegG charging amendments 2023–2026: the SPNV cap, the 2.2% equity-return anchor and implications for PTA-owned pools

The cap in § 37 / § 66c ERegG

With effect from 1 April 2023 the legislator inserted into the ERegG a statutory ceiling limiting the annual increase of SPNV track-access charges to 1.8 % for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, and decoupled the SPNV charging path from the Regionalisierungsmittel dynamisation formula that had previously linked the two. The stated objective was to shield SPNV operators — and, behind them, the Länder budgets that fund SPNV through the Regionalisierungsmittel — from charge increases driven by cost factors that are not specific to SPNV (in particular the infrastructure manager's equity-return profile).

The 2.2 % equity-return anchor

In parallel, the Federal Government has indicated that the permissible return on equity for the infrastructure manager will be anchored at 2.2 % from 2026, matching the rate of return that the Federal Government itself expects from DB InfraGO as shareholder. The practical effect is to tighten the upper bound of the infrastructure-charging envelope and, together with the SPNV cap, to stabilise the SPNV cost-of-service curve.

Why this matters for rolling-stock financing

Three implications flow through to rolling-stock finance. First, for Kapitaldienstgarantien and Wiedereinsatzgarantien, the benchmark used to size the guarantee should distinguish track-access charges that are subject to the cap from other cost elements; a guarantee that over-sized the charge-growth risk relative to the statutory cap would raise state-aid questions under the Altmark framework. Second, for PTA-owned vehicle pools, the cap changes the net availability payment to the operator and, consequently, the pool's ability to recover allocated infrastructure-related opex. Third, for operator-financed models, the cap reduces tail-end track-access risk but increases the sensitivity of the cost curve to the CJEU's pending ruling on the cap's compatibility with Directive 2012/34/EU — see the preliminary-reference note.

What to watch next

The Federal Government and the Bundestag Committee on Transport have signalled a more structural reform of the Trassenpreissystematik (September 2025 expert hearing). Any such reform will interact with the ongoing CJEU proceedings and with the EU Capacity Regulation; financial modelling for contracts with a term beyond 2027 should treat the SPNV charging envelope as a sensitivity, not as a fixed input.

Where this sits

See the market-access section of the Regulation page, the financing structures page and the preliminary-reference note.

Last reviewed: 18 April 2026. These notes are not legal advice. See the Disclaimer.