Crisis at Deutsche Bahn: Ministers demand decisive reforms!

Crisis at Deutsche Bahn: Ministers demand decisive reforms!

Deutsche Bahn is in quite a bit of trouble. How frankenpost.de reports, the situation is so serious that even the new Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) is dissatisfied with the company's performance. Rumors about a change at the top of Deutsche Bahn have been circulating for months, but Schnieder emphasizes that it is not just about a change in boss. The minister is calling for fundamental structural changes and a long-term strategy that should be developed by late summer 2025.

It appears that the new government's coalition agreement already contains provisions that call for a reorganization of the board of directors and supervisory board of Deutsche Bahn and the subsidiary DB InfraGo. The aim is to ensure more specialist expertise in the company and to achieve streamlining. Minister Schnieder has announced that he will only focus on personnel issues after the strategy has been developed, which particularly concerns the future of railway boss Richard Lutz.

Worsening crisis in freight transport

What makes matters worse is that Deutsche Bahn also has massive problems in freight transport. The annual press conference on March 27th showed worrying developments, such as verkehrsrundschau.de reported. Last year the group suffered a loss of 1.8 billion euros. The freight transport division DB Cargo particularly suffered from this and recorded an adjusted EBIT loss of over 350 million euros. Traffic performance fell by 7.9%, which underlines that there is a need for action here.

The “S3” restructuring program aims to stabilize the situation. Around 10,000 jobs are to be saved by 2027, especially in administration. However, major investments remain necessary: ​​In total, Deutsche Bahn needs up to 150 billion euros from the federal government's infrastructure fund and a further 142 billion euros by 2034 from the regular budget.

Plans to sell DB subsidiary Schenker

A further step towards stabilization could be the planned sale of the logistics subsidiary Schenker. Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) has made it clear that Deutsche Bahn should concentrate more on its core business in rail transport. The minister sees the spin-off of Schenker as important for an internationally active company that can operate better outside the group. This could help reduce the railway's debt levels and at the same time create more space for the urgently needed renovation and modernization of the infrastructure.

Deutsche Bahn appears to be facing a fundamental change that not only affects the company structure, but could also have far-reaching consequences for the future of rail transport in Germany. Now it remains to be seen how the planned measures will come into effect and whether they can bring the desired success.