Deutsche Bahn (DB), Germany's state-owned rail operator, is making good progress with its small and medium-scale construction projects and will have 40% of them complete by the end of 2025 at a cost of some €1 billion ($1.1 billion).
Among the plans are the expansion of bypass tracks for freight trains of up to 740 metres and junctions for commuter traffic.
"Owing to the accelerated implementation – for example by combining measures and slimmed down project planning – we are increasingly able to achieve large effects through small and particularly effective planning," Philipp Nagl, head of DB's new InfraGo infrastructure unit, said.
"Our passengers and freight customers benefit from this directly," he added.
The programme has drawn criticism for presenting measures as current that had already been implemented thereby improving the success rate.
The programme of 350 small and medium-scale measures is to be concluded by 2030, with the aim of improving punctuality by four percentage points, DB has come under increased criticism over punctuality over recent years. Last year, almost a third of its express services ran late.
It is planning to achieve a punctuality rate of more than 71% this year.
Alongside the smaller measures, major projects are under way that will see the closure of major routes for months, with 40 sections of track replaced by 2030.
