Austria has decided to amend the Railway Act (EisbG) in order to introduce a capacity model with systematised infrastructure capacity (KsF) on heavily frequented routes. The amendment extends the five-year infrastructure strategy legally prescribed by the European Union in order to ensure the effective use of railway infrastructure. Criteria for the creation of a KsF are to be defined for this purpose. The infrastructure manager is obliged to determine the infrastructure capacity for passenger rail transport and rail freight transport on the basis of this master strategy and using transport forecasts and transport demand surveys. Train path applications that are in line with the KsF are to be prioritised for allocation. The need for this change is justified by the full closures of the German infrastructure operator DB InfraGo in southern Germany, which could lead to uneven capacity utilisation on the Austrian network.
