The Monopoly Commission has reiterated its call for the Deutsche Bahn to be split up. “The Deutsche Bahn Group has to be restructured,” says the Chairman of the Monopoly Commission, Jürgen Kühling, of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. The plan of the traffic light coalition for an infrastructure society geared to the common good is “a sensible component of a comprehensive reform package”. The planned restructuring means a good step towards unbundling.
According to the report, Kühling intends to hand over the ninth “Railway Sector Report” to the federal government’s monopoly commission this Tuesday. According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the experts advocate more competition in the rail sector and comprehensive reforms.
In April, the Union presented a proposal for splitting up the railway company, which was approved by the monopoly commission. Accordingly, the areas of network, stations and the energy sector are to be separated from the DB Group and bundled in a federal infrastructure GmbH. According to these plans, the areas of local transport, long-distance transport and freight transport will remain with the train, which are also to be streamlined.
The federal government wants to keep the train as an integrated group – there should be no separation of network and operation. In their coalition agreement, however, the SPD, Greens and FDP had announced the establishment of a new, public-interest-oriented infrastructure division that would be 100 percent owned by the federally owned Deutsche Bahn.
The Monopolies Commission advises the federal government on competition issues.
