It was actually foreseeable. Since 2023, Deutsche Bahn has kept tracks, switches and signals clear of vegetation without glyphosate. Instead, it relied on mowing machines and on pelargonic acid, which is considered environmentally friendly. Now the railway is pulling the emergency brake and will rely on glyphosate again from spring 2027. Speaking to the German Press Agency (dpa), a spokeswoman for the infrastructure subsidiary DB InfraGo described the effect of pelargonic acid as “insufficient”. InfraGo has submitted applications to the Federal Railway Authority (Eisenbahn-Bundesamt). Each year, the authority approves the use of plant protection products on tracks as an exception. Glyphosate would currently be legally permitted on around one third of the network.

A costly abstention

Deutsche Bahn is legally obliged to keep its infrastructure operationally safe. Overgrown vegetation can obstruct the view of signals and block emergency escape routes. The Federal Railway Authority had already criticised the increasing vegetation in 2025. According to the railway, mechanical cutting is not sufficient, requires a lot of staff and blocks the lines. The budget for vegetation control on the tracks rose from around 9 million euros in 2020 to about 60 million euros last year. That is almost seven times as much.

Hazard is not the same as risk

So why the abstention? It was triggered by the 2015 classification by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It described glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic”. Red meat falls into the same category. Processed meat such as sausages is classified one level higher by the IARC.

In 2022, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) stated that the data were insufficient to classify glyphosate as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction. The EU food safety authority EFSA, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached the same conclusion. Based on these assessments, the EU has approved glyphosate until the end of 2033.

And in Switzerland?

In 2019, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) also announced that it would stop using glyphosate entirely from 2025. Its hot-water vehicle was effective, but too complex logistically, and it was put up for sale in 2022. Nevertheless, according to a report in “Agrarforschung Schweiz”, the SBB intends to limit herbicides to an absolute minimum. In 2019, it used 1.9 tonnes of herbicides. In 2024, the figure was down to 0.6 tonnes. Since 2025, the SBB no longer reports its herbicide use in its sustainability report. DB InfraGo, however, points out that the railways of Switzerland, the Netherlands and Poland also use glyphosate for vegetation control. It can therefore be assumed that glyphosate continues to be used on tracks in Switzerland as well.

As in the EU, glyphosate remains approved in Switzerland. After all, its benefits are undisputed: agriculture uses it for no-till farming, which protects soils from erosion. But anyone who opposes the use of herbicides anywhere should bear in mind that glyphosate in water bodies does not only come from fields or railway tracks; it can also form in wastewater treatment plants from a detergent additive. The sources are therefore broad, but so are the benefits.

Both Deutsche Bahn and the SBB set themselves the goal of phasing it out. One is now doing a U-turn, the other has moved away from a complete abstention. Anyone who bans a proven product before more economical, more ecologically beneficial and, above all, practical alternatives are available pays the price, in terms of both cost and safety. This also applies to voluntary abstentions that are mainly intended to go down well. What is needed is a careful impact assessment and the inclusion of scientific findings.