Bahn boss Lutz on train delays: “I suffer like a dog” – economy

How far has the transport sector come in terms of climate protection? Bahn boss Richard Lutz has a sobering answer this morning, despite some bright spots. A lot has happened in his own area of ​​responsibility: the railways, for example, have reduced emissions by 60 percent through green electricity. And in the big city there are more and more people who travel like him: two years ago he sold his car, says Lutz, privately he only travels by train and his two bicycles.

But if you look at all traffic in Germany, says Lutz, then practically nothing has improved in terms of climate protection since 1990. Emissions are as high today as they were 30 years ago. Because what the railway saved, the growing road traffic made up for it. It’s a zero-sum game that’s being played out that day at the sustainability summit Süddeutsche Zeitung several participants complain. “It’s not enough to carry on like this,” says Lutz, who in this case is thinking beyond his own means of transport. “We have to do a lot of things fundamentally differently.”

In fact, the European Commission decided on a radical change on Wednesday night. A few hours before the sustainability debate in Munich, the environment ministers of the EU member states had sealed that from 2035 no new fossil combustion cars would be allowed on Europe’s roads. The decision of the summit in Luxembourg – it is the third EU body that has decided on this matter – makes it clear how much politics is driving companies, but also citizens, with ever stricter climate goals.

The question is how Europe, like Germany, can keep up. Because the so-called drive turnaround alone, i.e. the switch from petrol and diesel to electric, will not be enough to make mobility sustainable in the future. In fact, what is needed is a traffic turnaround that takes all means of transport into account: cars, trucks, bicycles, buses, planes and trains, whether as ICE or regional express.

Still normal: a person drives a car that weighs tons

At the carmaker BMW, they already think in a modern way, at least at the subsidiary iVentures: “We look at mobility, not just at the car,” says Inga Grieger. Through the company, BMW is trying to get in touch with promising start-ups, and not just with those who are directly related to cars: the fund that has just been set up for start-ups with sustainable business ideas is EUR 300 million, about the most environmentally friendly raw material extraction possible.

The goal must be that individual traffic shifts more to mass transport, said traffic expert Sophia Becker at the SZ summit, who has just been appointed Vice President at the TU Berlin and is primarily responsible for “sustainability”. Because no matter how autonomous or electric a vehicle is, an 80-kilogram person in a two-ton vehicle is not ideal, especially not in big cities.

On the one hand, the demand for a change is there, says Becker, as shown by 16 million nine-euro tickets, a “super simple” measure for climate protection. But in order to change something in the long term, a real “disruption” is necessary, a stronger departure from car traffic, a “climate-friendly transport policy” – but “politicians don’t dare to do that yet”. Her examples: The road traffic regulations, for example, continue to place very one-sided emphasis on the flow of car traffic, and the federal traffic route plan is primarily about expanding the motorways. The “forces of perseverance” of automobile locomotion are enormous, and they will continue to assert themselves: the flat-rate tank discount introduced by the government in view of the rise in fuel prices is “completely counterproductive” in order to get people to rethink. Such a subsidy “suggests to the citizens: The state will fix it,” says Becker. In the long run, however, he cannot address these serious challenges. And the change is taking too long, for example towards electric cars.

Changes in behavior are needed to protect the climate and save energy, says the Vice President, who once studied psychology. It’s not easy, warns Valentina Daiber, a member of the board of directors of the telecommunications group O2/ Telefonica, because people don’t always act sensibly. Your example: All network operators have been offering mobile phone recycling for years – not unimportant in view of the increasing shortage of raw materials. But the number of returned devices is “manageable”. A mobile operator at a forum on sustainability and transport? Yes, that makes sense, says Daiber: On the one hand, networked digitization is needed to control traffic in the future. On the other hand, some new technologies are actually more environmentally friendly: Transmission using the 5G mobile radio standard, for example, requires 90 percent less energy.

But there are also problems with digitalization, Daiber complains. Approval for a new transmission mast takes two years. Germany must finally get into doer mode, deregulate itself. Her specific suggestion: work like Tesla did in Grünheide. The electric car company had built its factory there with pre-approvals at its own risk.

The railway facilities are old, too old

The train also has to move faster. Above all, the outdated transport infrastructure that has not grown with the needs is a massive brake on change, says Bahn boss Lutz. “If our systems were people, one thing is clear: 20 percent of our infrastructure consists of pensioners,” complains Lutz. “They are also fit. But that doesn’t work well in the long run.” Railway tracks from the imperial era are still in use – and at some point they no longer carry their loads properly. In any case, the railways currently have to rehabilitate the track systems with more construction sites than ever before.

But that slows down traffic and leads to train cancellations and delays. And it not only torments the normal passengers, but also the CEO. “Believe me: I suffer like a dog,” says Lutz. The railway tries to transport as many people as possible on an overloaded rail network with additional trains. On many connections, passengers would then probably not arrive on time. But he at least wants to achieve “that they arrive,” says Lutz. A dilemma from which employees in the entire industry suffered: more punctuality would only be possible if fewer trains were on the road, but then fewer passengers and goods would be transported.

“The quality and reliability of the railway system is unacceptable,” admits Lutz. More than every third long-distance train was late in May – the rate has not been this bad for twelve years. Regional trains are also being delayed more and more often, which further damages the big idea of ​​​​a traffic turnaround.

A quick end to the problems is not in sight: the group does not intend to completely renovate the main routes until 2024. Lutz recently announced this together with Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP). Until then, short-term measures such as better construction site planning and shorter detour routes for trains should help. Incidentally, the start of construction does not mean the end of the suffering: The renovation work will take many years: Wissing and Lutz have promised that the railway will not have a fully renovated high-performance network until 2030.

But even good tracks and punctual trains alone are not enough to persuade more people to switch to the train, which has now been realized, says Lutz. The train stations should also become more attractive – and become “mobility platforms” with bicycle parking garages and charging stations for electric cars. Lutz admits that this holistic way of thinking has simply been forgotten so far. And despite the resulting problems, the Bahn boss remains loyal to his own company. “We’re on vacation on the Baltic Sea,” says Lutz. “I don’t need a car there.”