The dilapidated rail network is to be renovated in the coming years. However, the state-owned railway company is not in a good financial position. The federal government now wants to take countermeasures.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing is increasing the pressure on Deutsche Bahn and has called on the state-owned company to come up with a restructuring plan. Punctuality and capacity utilization of trains must be improved, said the FDP politician in Berlin. Punctuality is very poor, the reliability of the railway is not satisfactory. There is an urgent need for adjustments in the economic and organizational areas. The railway must improve its profitability. Wissing pointed to losses in freight and long-distance traffic, for example.
Wissing: Federal government has made advance payments
The minister said that when he took office in 2021, he found the railway in a difficult state and that the infrastructure was in a state of disrepair. Wissing referred to the concept that had been developed to renovate particularly busy routes by 2030 – the renovation of the first route, the Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim, began in mid-July. It will be completely closed until mid-December for this purpose. The federal government is now demanding that management make an effort to structurally improve the group.
The federal government has made additional billions available to the railway and implemented legal reforms to finance the rail network. A new infrastructure division has also been established. The federal government, as the owner, has made an “advance payment,” said Wissing.
Railway to present concept
Now the railway itself must deliver improvements. Wissing named seven areas of action. The supervisory board of the railway will discuss a concept at its next meeting and decide on it as he expects. He expects a report every three months on whether goals are to be achieved. “We want to have a restructuring program that runs until 2027 and brings continuous improvements,” said Wissing. “There must not be the option that it won’t work. That is my requirement.”
In concrete terms, this is what it is about: The railway is to take measures to significantly improve punctuality in the “short term” while the infrastructure is being renovated. In July, the punctuality rate in long-distance traffic was only 62 percent. Wissing did not want to say exactly what rate he has in mind. The railway will present concrete figures.
Better utilization of trains
A paper from the ministry also states that DB Fernverkehr must make better use of its trains in order to return to economic and sustainable operations. Whether this is done through “attractive prices” for trains with low utilization or by acquiring new business customers is the responsibility of the railway board. Wissing spoke out against the closure of routes.
Railways should improve structures
The first half of the year did not go well financially for Deutsche Bahn: after interest and income taxes, the company posted a loss of 1.2 billion euros. The company therefore has to make savings, as CFO Levin Holle announced at the end of July. Around 30,000 jobs are to be cut in the coming years – but not in train operations.
Wissing did not want to comment on whether this number is sufficient. That is not the owner’s job. The ministry’s paper states that the railway must reduce duplicate structures and increase its “personnel productivity” again. It also states that investments outside of infrastructure renovation must be examined.
Source: Stern
