Consultation on methods for determining interest rates for railway infrastructure managers

Year of issue 2026
Date of issue 2026.08.19

The Bundesnetzagentur is today launching a consultation on the methods report for determining interest rates for railway infrastructure managers. The starting point is a review of the methods used in the past for determining these interest rates.

Approaches to determining interest rates for railway infrastructure managers

The methods report, which the Bundesnetzagentur has put out to consultation, is part of a report on determining the rate of return on equity and the interest rate on borrowings for railway infrastructure managers that the Bundesnetzagentur commissioned in April 2026. The report sets out and discusses the approaches taken in the past for determining the rate of return on equity and the interest rate on borrowings and also explores possible alternative methods and further developments

The report presents considerations on determining the rate of return on equity using various capital market models, different possible ways of deriving the market risk premium and calculating the risk-free interest rate and beta values, and evaluating the determination of interest rates on borrowings.

The methods report and the comments received will provide the basis for a further report on determining the rate of return on equity and the interest rate on borrowings. A report prepared on this basis will be drawn up in the first half of 2027. The Bundesnetzagentur will take account of the report and the comments received when setting the interest rates in the individual proceedings for charges. The parties involved will also be able to state their views on the planned rates in the course of the individual proceedings.