The Union’s plans to split up Deutsche Bahn meet with approval from the train drivers’ union GDL. Union boss Claus Weselsky told the news radio MDR aktuell that the current system leads to unpunctuality and unreliability. “That’s why it’s right to cut out the infrastructure with one cut and to ensure that the infrastructure can be managed and controlled more by the federal government,” said the GDL boss. The Union’s proposal to separate the areas of network, stations and energy from the association and to bundle them in a federal infrastructure GmbH is correct.
Weselsky, however, warned against exaggerated expectations of such a restructuring: “We mustn’t start dreaming. An improvement in the situation will only become noticeable with billions in investment from taxpayers’ money.” There must be more capacity in the network, more switches and overtaking routes.
According to the Union’s ideas, the areas of local transport, long-distance transport and goods transport will remain with the railways, which are also to be streamlined. “The DB holding will be dissolved and the previous DB structure with 740 holdings and subsidiaries will be unbundled,” quoted the “Augsburger Allgemeine” from the paper by the CDU and CSU.
Support also comes from the traffic light coalition
The Pro Bahn passenger association can also take positives from the Union plans. The federal chairman Detlef Neuss told the “Welt” that the association had been in favor of separating the network and operations at the railway for years. At the same time, he emphasized: “It is less important for us to break up the DB AG group than to convert both the network and the station and service into a company form that is not profit-oriented but works in the public interest.” A joint-stock company is not good for that. A non-profit GmbH under the umbrella of Deutsche Bahn is conceivable.
There are also positive voices to the Union initiative from the traffic light coalition. “It is to be welcomed that the Union supports the thrust of these reform efforts. This is intended to eliminate problems that arose during the Union-led federal governments,” said Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Michael Theurer (FDP), the “Tagesspiegel”. . He understood the Union’s proposal “as an offer to talk, also with regard to a possibly necessary approval of the Federal Council”.
Green transport politician Stefan Gelbhaar told the newspaper about the Union’s ideas: “It’s nice that the Union finally recognizes the massive need for action on the railway infrastructure after more than a decade of CSU transport ministers.” In the future, more passenger and freight traffic will have to be handled by rail.
The rail policy spokesman for the Greens parliamentary group, Matthias Gastel, said that the majority of the proposals are already being implemented by the current government. In the coalition agreement, it was agreed to merge the infrastructure divisions of the railways. This new infrastructure company will then be aligned “to the common good”, said Gastel on the radio station SWR Aktuell. The reform should start next year. “This is an important prerequisite for more rail traffic – at the expense of road and air traffic.”
