DB InfraGo confirmed on 15 July 2026 that it has finalised the preliminary design (Vorplanung) for the 54-kilometre Brenner Nordzulauf, the German section feeding into the 64-kilometre Brenner Base Tunnel. A preferred alignment through Bavaria’s Inntal has been selected after more than 270 stakeholder meetings and the evaluation of 119 regional “core demands.” Over half the double-track line will run in tunnels to mitigate noise and environmental impact. The new corridor is critical: once the Brenner Base Tunnel opens in 2032, freight volumes between northern Italy and German industrial centres are projected to double. Without the Nordzulauf, traffic would bottleneck south of Rosenheim, negating modal-shift targets set in both Berlin’s Freight Transport Master Plan and the EU’s Green Deal. For logistics managers the announcement provides long-term planning certainty. Trains from Munich to Verona are expected to save up to 40 minutes, enabling faster door-to-door times for high-value goods and just-in-sequence automotive parts. Passenger operators also anticipate introducing two-hourly ICE services that could make rail competitive with short-haul flights on the Munich–Northern Italy market. The project now moves to parliamentary approval. Funding will draw on the German Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan and the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility. Construction tenders could be issued as early as 2028, pending an accelerated permitting process under Germany’s new Infrastructure Acceleration Act. Beyond capacity, the design includes community benefits such as a planned pedestrian and cycle bridge over the River Inn, and advanced noise-barrier technology that exceeds statutory limits. However, some citizen-group “alternative routes” were rejected for failing safety or technical standards—an early indicator of potential legal challenges that mobility stakeholders should monitor.
Source: Eisenbahnjournal Zughalt
