Steffen BilgerFederal Minister for Transport

Politics · Digitalisation

Digitalisation: from broadband ministry to digital rail

When Steffen Bilger joined the transport ministry in 2018, it was also Germany's ministry for digital infrastructure, and digitalisation was part of his brief. When he returned as minister in 2026, broadband and digital networks had moved to a new ministry. What remains is digitalisation inside transport: signalling, vehicles, data and planning procedures.

The four layers of transport digitalisation used on this page. Editorial model, not an official classification.

Section A — a ministry renamed

Three names in twelve years

The federal transport ministry's name has tracked the political status of digital policy.

From December 2013 the ministry was called the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). Its digital remit included broadband expansion and mobile networks alongside roads, rail, water and air. In December 2021 it became the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV). With the Chancellor's organisational decree of 6 May 2025, a separate Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and State Modernisation (BMDS) was created under Karsten Wildberger, and the transport ministry became the Bundesministerium für Verkehr (BMV), without the digital portfolio.

Bilger was Parliamentary State Secretary at the BMVI from March 2018 to December 2021. In September 2018 he described his responsibilities as Straße, Auto, alternative Antriebe, Luftverkehr und Digitalisierung ("roads, cars, alternative drives, aviation and digitalisation", translation). The sources do not show which specific digital programmes he led personally, so none is credited to him here.

As minister since July 2026 he heads a ministry whose digital tasks are confined to transport. No statement by him on the 2025 split itself was found.

  1. Dec 2013Ministry becomes BMVI: transport and digital infrastructure.
  2. Mar 2018Bilger becomes Parliamentary State Secretary; digitalisation in his brief.
  3. Mar 2019He presents the themes of the planned Innovationsprogramm Logistik 2030, with digital infrastructure among them.
  4. Dec 2021Ministry becomes BMDV (Digital Affairs and Transport). Bilger leaves the ministry.
  5. 6 May 2025BMDS created; transport ministry becomes BMV without the digital portfolio.
  6. 29 Jul 2026Bilger becomes Federal Minister for Transport (BMV).

Layer 1 · Network

ERTMS: digital train control

The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) replaces lineside signals and national train-protection systems with a European standard in which trains receive movement authorities digitally. Combined with digital interlockings, it is meant to let more trains run on the same tracks, a central argument in a network as congested as Germany's.

The 2026 economic plan of the special fund for infrastructure earmarks €2.5 billion for ERTMS. Within the ministry, the rail department houses an ERTMS and digitalisation coordination office. On 14 August 2026 the ministry announced that the office's steering committee had been constituted and Florian Böhm appointed as its head (press release 077/2026).

Status

Documented

Organisational step: steering committee constituted, head appointed. Funding line in the 2026 special-fund plan.

Context

Allianz pro Schiene listed digitalisation among its five demands to Bilger in August 2026. Results in the form of equipped lines are not reported here. See Rail infrastructure.

Layer 2 · Vehicles

Digital coupling and automated driving

Rail freight · 4 Sep 2026

Digital Automatic Coupling (DAK)

Freight wagons in Europe are still coupled by hand, a slow and dangerous job. The DAK couples wagons automatically and connects power and data along the train. The ministry opened a funding call of almost €36 million for "pioneer trains" (PioDAK), administered by the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility, with project outlines due 14–25 September 2026. It covers retrofitting and testing, research, and studies.

Bilger: Die Digitale Automatische Kupplung stellt eine bedeutende Modernisierung für den Schienengüterverkehr dar. ("Digital Automatic Coupling represents a significant modernisation for rail freight." Translation.)

Road · 31 Aug 2026

Autonomous vehicles in service

A €14 million call supports buying, retrofitting or leasing vehicles with autonomous driving functions for public transport, especially in rural and outer-urban areas, and for freight. Municipalities, transport operators and freight companies could apply until 15 October 2026.

Bilger: Autonomes Fahren bietet die Chance, Mobilität neu zu denken. ("Autonomous driving offers the chance to rethink mobility." Translation.)

Research · 1 Oct 2026

German Centre for Future Mobility

Parliamentary State Secretary Ulrich Lange announced Munich as the fifth site of the German Centre for Future Mobility (DZM), with a research project on automated mobility (RISE). This was a ministry decision announced by Lange, not by Bilger.

The funding calls are announcements. Which projects are selected, and what they deliver, will only be known later; the Innovation page tracks that distinction.

Layer 3 · Data

Telematics and logistics data

Bilger's main documented reference to traffic data is political: asked about a general speed limit in August 2026, he said: Ich halte es für sinnvoller, Telematiklösungen auszuweiten. ("I think it makes more sense to expand telematics solutions." Translation.) Telematics here means variable speed limits and warnings set automatically according to traffic, weather and incidents.

The theme goes back to his time as logistics coordinator. In March 2019 he named eleven themes for the planned Innovationsprogramm Logistik 2030, including digital infrastructure, multimodal traffic management, rail freight 4.0, digital roads and parking management. The programme was presented by Minister Andreas Scheuer in September 2019.

Layer 4 · Processes

Digital planning and approval

The Infrastruktur-Zukunftsgesetz, passed in June and July 2026 before Bilger took office, makes planning and approval procedures for transport projects "digital only", according to the federal government. The aim is to shorten procedures that have often taken many years.

Bilger has supported faster planning. To Der Spiegel on 26 September 2026 he said: Wir waren viel zu langsam bei der Planung, die Prozesse waren langwierig. ("We were far too slow in planning; the processes were lengthy.") He did not, in the sources found, address digital procedures specifically. The wider debate is on Infrastructure policy.

Keeping claims factual

What this page does not claim

Digitalisation is an area where announcements are easily mistaken for results. The record supports these limits.

  • Broadband. No source credits Bilger personally with broadband or mobile-network programmes from his 2018–21 term, and those are no longer the transport ministry's responsibility.
  • ERTMS. The documented step in 2026 is organisational (coordination office) and financial (special-fund line), not a completed rollout.
  • DAK and autonomous driving. These are funding calls; no selected projects or results had been announced by 8 October 2026.
  • Assistance systems. The ministry published an update on 6 October 2026 on the approval of a Tesla driver-assistance system; its content is not summarised here because it was not reviewed for this page.

For the technology itself, see Digital mobility and Future mobility.

Sources

  1. Organisationserlass des Bundeskanzlers (6 May 2025)
  2. gefahrgut.de — BMV anstelle von BMDV (2025)
  3. eurotransport / trans aktuell — Interview with Steffen Bilger (7 Sep 2018)
  4. eurotransport — Staatssekretär Bilger nennt Themenfelder (1 Mar 2019)
  5. VerkehrsRundschau — Scheuer stellt Innovationsprogramm Logistik 2030 vor (4 Sep 2019)
  6. Bundesregierung — Steffen Bilger
  7. hib — Wirtschaftsplan des Sondervermögens 2026
  8. BMV — Organisation chart (2 Oct 2026)
  9. BMV press release 077/2026 — ERTMS-Koordinierungsstelle (14 Aug 2026)
  10. Bahnblogstelle — Allianz pro Schiene: fünf Forderungen (19 Aug 2026)
  11. BMV press release 082/2026 — Pionierzüge mit DAK (4 Sep 2026)
  12. BMV press release 080/2026 — Autonomes Fahren (31 Aug 2026)
  13. BMV press release 090/2026 — Projekt RISE / DZM München (1 Oct 2026)
  14. BMV — Interview with Bild (9 Aug 2026)
  15. Bundesregierung — Infrastruktur-Zukunftsgesetz
  16. BMV — Interview with Der Spiegel (26 Sep 2026)
  17. BMV — BMV aktuell (news listing)