The end of the DB?
Report: The traffic light coalition could mean the end of Deutsche Bahn
According to a report by the news magazine “Der Spiegel”, the FDP and the Greens were in favor of separating the network and operations.
© Carsten Koall / DPA
The railway has to get better, but how? The traffic light parties recently discussed this. However, the future coalition partners are not entirely in agreement on the implementation.
Germany is discussing the dismantling of its railways in the rail network and operations. The trigger is a report by “Spiegel”, according to which the traffic light parties already spoke about it in their coalition negotiations. The Pro Bahn passenger association is in favor, as is the Monopoly Commission. Unions and the left spoke out vehemently against it. Deutsche Bahn (DB) itself was silent.
According to “Spiegel”, the traffic light parties discussed the future of the heavily indebted railway on Tuesday. The Greens and FDP are in favor of a separation of network and operation, the SPD against it. The state-owned company is expected to double the number of passengers by 2030.
According to the report, the FDP wants to sell more competition on long-haul routes and the profitable logistics group DB Schenker in order to repay debts and redeem money for investments. The Green finance expert Sven Giegold also pleaded for the sale of the foreign subsidiaries in the “Rheinische Post”: “I wonder whether the railways have to deal with freight traffic around the world Neighboring countries. “
Railway could become more efficient
The honorary chairman of the Pro Bahn passenger association, Klaus Peter Naumann, told the editorial network in Germany that a separation would be practicable. Even today, non-DB companies would drive without problems on the tracks of the DB, and the DB drives on tracks that do not belong to it. “Efficiency can be increased with a clear distribution of tasks and sufficient funding.” The infrastructure belongs to the general interest and should not primarily have the task of generating profits.
The ecological traffic club Germany (VCD) also advocated that the tracks and stations no longer have to generate dividends for the entire group as before. All money that is achieved with the network must flow into the expansion and maintenance of the network. “This would increase the public subsidy requirement of DB Zugbetriebs, but it would be considerably more transparent.”
The chairman of the Monopoly Commission, Jürgen Kühling, explained in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” that after a separation the DB and its competitors would pay for the use of the route. Such a step would be “relatively easy to take”.
Disadvantages for the employees
The railway and transport union (EVG) warned against a split. “If the DB employees are dismantled, there is a risk of job losses and wages,” said the EVG’s vice boss, Martin Burkert, of the RND.
The chairman of the group works council, Jens Schwarz, also rejected the considerations. “In Germany there is competition on the railways. Nowhere else in Europe are so many railway companies active as here, mainly in freight and local transport,” he explained. It is not competition that is a scarce resource in Germany, but the infrastructure, especially the railways.
Schwarz demanded “enormous efforts” from the new federal government to expand the rail network. Pro-Bahn honorary chairman Naumann also emphasized: It is crucial that more money is invested in the network. In order to achieve the climate change, the current expenditure of 88 euros per inhabitant per year for the rail network would have to be increased significantly. Switzerland spends more than four times as much.
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Left warns of “multiple structures”
Left chairmen Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow declared: “We don’t need two companies with two boards and a long, crippling restructuring process.” Henning-Wellsow warned of “trains that no longer wait for each other, as well as double, triple and multiple structures for booking, information and complaint management.”
According to “Spiegel”, two models were discussed in the coalition negotiations. In the “extreme” model, the infrastructure sector would be split off into a public society oriented towards the common good. Regional, long-distance and freight traffic remained. The “moderate” model therefore provides for a holding company under whose roof network and train operations would be organized. Formally, the unity of the group would be preserved.