On its own website, the railway company Abellio is quite optimistic. “Is it still worth buying Abellio tickets?” It asks its own passengers and delivers the answer at the same time: “Of course! No problem!” The latter, however, is only partially correct. Because Abellio has a pretty big problem right now. The company based in Berlin, which operates 52 train lines in Germany, mainly in North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg and has 3,100 employees, is fighting against bankruptcy.
On Wednesday evening, the railway company caused great concern among passengers and politicians. Abellio announced that it had applied for so-called protective shield proceedings at the Berlin-Charlottenburg district court. A reorganization procedure is called within the framework of insolvency law, in which the management remains on board and is supported by court-appointed reorganization specialists. In order to alleviate financial bottlenecks, the Federal Employment Agency pays wages and salaries for three months. After that, the company should do this again itself. Abellio’s Germany boss, Michiel Noy, announced that rail operations would continue unabated. The pay of the employees is also guaranteed.
The massive problems reveal how thin the air is currently for some public transport providers. It is currently being expanded and will transport significantly more passengers in the next few years, especially in the big cities. Abellio’s imbalance has nothing to do with empty trains during the pandemic. The transport associations continued to pay the operators.
The company justifies the tense financial situation with “massive cost developments that are not adequately covered by the individual transport contracts”. Among other things, it refers to higher personnel costs and follow-up costs on the construction site – this means rail replacement services and fines for train cancellations or failure to meet punctuality targets. Such additional costs were not foreseeable when Abellio signed the transport contracts, argues the company.
The record number of railway construction sites is a problem for many transport companies. The renovation of the partially ailing railway network is causing financial problems, warns Matthias Stoffregen. He is the managing director of Mofair, the association of private transport companies in rail passenger transport. “Delays due to construction sites lead to losses without the companies being able to do anything about it,” says Stoffregen. Deutsche Bahn is planning the construction sites and then triggering shortfalls in income for the rail operators. Because in many contracts they are paid even after the schedule has been adhered to. If that doesn’t work, less money will flow.
Crucial weeks now begin for the future of the company
However, those involved also raise the question of what part Abellio himself has in the misery. Because in the past, the award was made with a very sharp pencil in order to get any orders for the operation of local transport lines. An insider admits that. There is talk of additional claims by Abellio in the double-digit million range. One will not be able to fulfill every wish of the company, it is said from the participating state governments. Lush back payments would contradict public procurement law. Inferior competitors would find it quite unfair if a cheaper provider became more expensive in retrospect. Abellio now has to prove exactly which costs really occurred as a surprise, according to state governments.
This is the beginning of crucial weeks for the future of the company. Politicians seem ready to help, but do not want to pay any price. NRW Transport Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) signaled readiness to help in the state parliament last week. How exactly remained open. It is therefore not certain that Abellio will be able to continue on his own after the protective shield procedure.
In any case, the Dutch state railway, which stands behind Abellio, no longer wants to pay for losses on a permanent basis. For her part, she is in a tight spot. Like many other European railways, the state railway Nederlandse Spoorwegen transported only ten percent of the usual passengers last year due to the corona and is suffering from losses of billions. The holding company has so far offset losses, according to a statement from Abellio. “A permanent compensation of the deficits in the long-term running transport contracts by the Abellio parent company is not acceptable.”