Traffic: Traffic light parties: Bahn should focus on core business

According to the will of politicians in the future traffic light coalition, the federally owned Deutsche Bahn is to concentrate on its core business in Germany – a sale of subsidiaries could be examined.

The Green transport politician Stefan Gelbhaar told the German Press Agency in Berlin: “Deutsche Bahn should focus on its core business, rail transport. That is a declared goal of the Greens. However, there is no such agreement in the coalition agreement. “

The deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Sören Bartol told the dpa: “The future federal government will keep Deutsche Bahn AG as an integrated publicly owned company, the SPD has campaigned for this in the coalition negotiations. We want to make the internal structures more efficient and transparent. In the course of the restructuring, we will examine the Group’s holdings and, in individual cases, a possible sale of individual holdings. “

The FDP transport politician Oliver Luksic told the dpa: “If there is a new traffic light coalition, a stronger focus on the core business is a matter of concern. Whether and how this is implemented must be discussed internally, factually and jointly. “

Bartol said that it is important to the SPD that Deutsche Bahn becomes the most important mobility company for the transport world of the future. “In the light of the mobility transition, the Group is facing major tasks: by 2030, we want to increase rail freight transport to 25 percent and double the volume of passenger transport. Thanks to Deutschlandtakt, the train should become even more attractive – even for short-term trips. That takes a strong company. “

In its election manifesto, the SPD demanded that Deutsche Bahn AG concentrate on the transport of people and goods by rail. In the election program for the Greens, it was said that the railway company should focus on its core business, the railway in Germany and in neighboring European countries.

In the event of a possible sale of subsidiaries, it could specifically be about the international subsidiary Arriva and the logistics subsidiary DB Schenker. The British Arriva offers local transport in 14 European countries, Schenker operates worldwide. A sale of the two daughters could flush billions into the coffers of the state-owned railway.

In their coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP announced that “considerably” more should be invested in rail than in road. The background to this is also the question of how the transport sector can achieve climate protection goals. A splitting of the federal railway, discussed in the coalition negotiations, does not come. The SPD was against a separation of network and traffic. The track infrastructure in Germany belongs to the DB Netz subsidiary. It is responsible for the operation and expansion of the network.

The traffic light is now planning to merge the infrastructure units of the railway with DB Netz, DB Station and Service within the group into a new, “common good” infrastructure division. Profits from the operation of the infrastructure should remain in the new unit in the future and the investment funds for DB Infrastructure should be increased.