It should be over on July 22, when Michael Odenwald, the long-time chairman of the Deutsche Bahn supervisory board, wants to resign. “After ten years of work on the supervisory board, it’s time for a change,” said Odenwald on Thursday evening. He had previously informed the control body of the state-owned company. According to supervisory board circles, his contract actually runs until 2027. “Despite all the current challenges, Deutsche Bahn is a great company that I have always been very happy to work for,” it said.
From government circles, however, it was said that Odenwald was angry about the new Minister of Transport, Volker Wissing (FDP). He wants to control the group more from the ministry in the future. So it was Wissing who, together with rail boss Richard Lutz, announced the large-scale renovation of the route network on Wednesday. The politician had also announced that he would make the railway crisis a “top priority”. Odenwald saw his options in the group so limited that he no longer wanted to do the job as head of the supervisory board, it said. He could not initially be reached for comment.
Odenwald has been the chief controller of the railway company since 2018. The lawyer has worked in the Ministry of Transport since 1992, where he first rose to the position of Head of Division, later to Head of the Central Department and finally, in 2012, to State Secretary. In this capacity, he also became a member of the Deutsche Bahn Supervisory Board. “We very much regret Mr. Odenwald’s decision,” said Bahn boss Lutz. If no successor is found before Odenwald leaves, his previous deputy, the head of the railway and transport union (EVG), Klaus-Dieter Hommel, will initially take over as chairman of the supervisory board.
The control committee had previously filled some important management positions on Thursday. One day after the announced “general renovation” of the rails, Berthold Huber, who was previously the board member for passenger transport, was appointed head of the infrastructure department. Two new members will take his place on the board: Huber’s previous passenger transport department will be divided into a regional and a long-distance transport department. The previous head of finance at DB Fernverkehr, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, will take care of regional matters in the future, Evelyn Palla. This makes her the third woman on the eight-person management board. The previous DB long-distance boss, Michael Peterson, should take care of this area on the board.