Status: 05.11.2021 07:18 a.m.
In order to promote competition in rail transport, the Monopolies Commission is calling for Deutsche Bahn to be split up into two independent companies. The Green finance expert Giegold is in favor of selling the Deutsche Bahn subsidiaries abroad.
The Monopolies Commission has demanded more commitment to competition from the future federal government. The Deutsche Bahn should be smashed and the blocks of shares sold to Post and Telekom. “The new federal government should tackle the vertical separation of the Deutsche Bahn AG, that is, a separation of the infrastructure from the actual railway operations,” said Jürgen Kühling, the chairman of the monopoly commission, of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
The Monopolies Commission recommends setting up two independent companies in the future. On the one hand, Deutsche Bahn, which continues to organize the transport of passengers and goods and operate the trains. On the other hand, a company that takes care of the rail network, maintains it and expands it. The Deutsche Bahn and its competitors would then pay for the use of the route, so Kühling.
At the same time, the Monopolies Commission is calling for the existing state holdings to be sold to the former monopoly Post and Telecom. The federal government currently holds around 21 percent of Deutsche Post through the state bank KfW, and more than 30 percent of Deutsche Telekom. Together, the two blocks of shares in the Dax companies are currently worth almost 40 billion euros on the stock exchange. The Monopolies Commission has the task of advising the federal government on competition and regulatory issues.
Giegold for the sale of Deutsche Bahn’s foreign subsidiaries
The Green finance expert Sven Giegold spoke out in favor of selling Deutsche Bahn’s foreign subsidiaries. “I wonder whether the railway has to continue to deal with goods traffic around the world, or whether it would rather expand rail traffic inland and to neighboring countries,” said the member of the finance working group at the traffic light coalition negotiations of the “Rheinische Post” “. The sale of the foreign rail subsidiaries DB Schenker and Arriva has been called for by experts for years.