In view of the problems at Deutsche Bahn, the Greens have called for a far-reaching restructuring of the group. „The federal government must ensure that the company is repositioning itself,“ said faction leader Anton Hofreiter the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
On the one hand, smaller companies of the railway would have to be merged to end a chaos in the responsibilities. „The various subsidiaries, such as DB Netz, the station company Station & Service and DB Energie, all of which are responsible for the network, must merge to form an infrastructure company,“ said Hofreiter. „Without clear responsibilities, even billions of investments will go nowhere.“
But it would also be necessary to separate the network and transport business, said Hofreiter. The Greens are looking for more competition if the rail network is run independently of the rest of the group. Hofreiter also campaigned for a partial privatization. „The sale of subsidiaries like Arriva and Schenker could bring in fresh money to tackle future projects.“
A report by the ARD magazine Kontraste had made clear once again on Thursday the problems with Deutsche Bahn. Thus, only every fifth ICE is „fully functional“. The reason was above all missing staff in the workshops. The railway emphasized that even small comfort restrictions such as failed coffee machines are already flowing into the statistics – but security is guaranteed.
