Today, outgoing Federal Minister of Transport Patrick Schnieder handed over office to his successor. Effective from 29 July 2026, Steffen Bilger takes over the post of Federal Minister of Transport.

Patrick Schnieder, who had headed the ministry since May 2025, thanked its staff for their dedicated cooperation:

It was a great pleasure to work here at the ministry. I am enthusiastic about transport issues and I am enthusiastic about the people here. From the very first day, I was welcomed warmly and supported with great commitment and a high level of expertise. Together, we have achieved a lot in the past months. We have launched, for example, the Agenda to Boost Rail Customer Satisfaction, including three immediate action programmes, which are already showing first results. Or the Act on the Future of Infrastructure, with which we are speeding up the rehabilitation and modernization of our transport infrastructure. Road, railways and waterways will all benefit from these measures. We are making progress with the corridor rehabilitation as well as with our large-scale modernization programme for bridges. This is something I am very proud of. I would like to express my sincere thanks and wish Steffen Bilger all the best and every success for his new tasks.

Steffen Bilger, Federal Minister of Transport, said:

I would like to thank Patrick Schnieder very much for his work and today’s handover of office. It is my aspired goal that transport infrastructure serves the people. The people who want to get to work on time in the morning. It must also serve an industry that is dependent on reliable supply chains and the families who travel by train to visit relatives, take a day trip by car, board a plane to go on vacation or just go on a bicycle tour. Together with the committed colleagues at the ministry, I want to keep Germany in motion. To do so, we need all modes of transport and must build on their individual strengths. I am looking forward to tackling this task together with my ministry and its agencies.

Christian Hirte and Ulrich Lange will continue to support the minister as Parliamentary State Secretaries at the Federal Ministry of Transport.