Yes, I recently criticized the railway board and I'm doing it again. But let's be honest: the employees (!) at the top are lining their pockets and receiving big bonuses, even though the railroad has clearly not met its 2022 goals in terms of “punctuality and customer satisfaction.” And we are talking about five million euros.
Now the railway presents its balance sheet for 2023. Let's see what the board members want to keep in their pockets this time as a “success fee”. But are there also successes?
They cannot be blamed for the collective negotiations with the GDL, that would be unfair. That in advance. But that's no reason for a bonus if the six-strike problem goes on for such a long period of time.
“It shows a company in trouble”
On the other hand, high tardiness does: almost one in three long-distance trains will arrive at least six minutes late in 2023. The reason is that the infrastructure is overloaded and needs renovation in many places and can no longer cope. to the sharp increase in railway demand in recent years.
What does, for example, the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv) think? Gives the company an unsatisfactory certificate. “Deutsche Bahn's current annual report shows a company in difficulty,” the association's president, Ramona Pop, told dpa on Wednesday.
Unpunctual trains, complicated, often digital-only offers, and poor customer service: these are everyday experiences for many public transport passengers. “For Deutsche Bahn to be sustainable, we finally have to take customer needs more into account.” I don't really see any reason for a bonus in this case.
What's the score? Last year the railway suffered losses of 2.4 billion euros. “The bottom line is that there has never been so much information,” Christian Böttger, professor of transport at the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) in Berlin, tells zdf.de and adds: “apart from Corona.” What I find completely incomprehensible is that Deutsche Bahn expected a loss of 1.3 billion euros by the end of 2023. Do the board members periodically review their numbers?
Let's summarize: In the certificate there is one unsatisfactory and one defective. There may be an encouraging “This can only get better,” but there is certainly no money for certificates.
But the traffic light coalition, of course, may see things differently. In an interview with FOCUS online, Transport Minister Wissing said of the delays: “But you can't equate these things. “In terms of the size of the overall network, rail transport in Germany presents a different challenge than in Switzerland or Austria and has also grown differently historically.”
It's a shame that the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) will return to profit for the first time in 2023. It's probably not comparable – I would have liked to have had such lenient teachers in the past.
How does it go from here?
The federal government said last year that around €40 billion should be allocated to improving the network in the coming years. After the budget ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, the federal government backed down and now wants to contribute 30 billion euros until 2027. A lot of money, but will it be enough? The railway itself estimates that investment needs will be significantly higher, around 45 billion euros.
And where will the money come from? The merchandise division, which was long very profitable but is now in crisis, could help in this regard. Deutsche Bahn is looking for a buyer for its logistics subsidiary DB Schenker. After years of boom, the company recently suffered significant profit losses. Many critics also speak of DB Cargo as a worse version of Deutsche Bahn. After all, it is the largest freight railway in Europe. Although the demand exists, the importance of climate targets and freight traffic in Germany increases year after year, the railway management cannot monetize this. That's certainly more possible, isn't it?
I am very curious to see what bonuses the members of the railway board will approve for 2023 and with what justification the politicians will approve it, because Deutsche Bahn is 100 percent owned by the federal government. But so far the politics teachers have been very lenient with railway board students who were in danger of being promoted and have still promoted them to the next class, even though it was wrong. But transport is part of Deutsche Bahn's job profile, but it should focus on customers.
When I was in school, those who had to worry about getting promoted had to study. That didn't help, I needed help. And that didn't help either, so it had to be repeated. For some students this was an exhilarating experience. In this regard, my request would be: Railroad board members should not receive a bonus for these grades and should try harder in the next “school year.”