THE FREIGHT RAILWAYS on the Half-Year Report of Deutsche Bahn

The DB Group is presenting its half-year report today. In addition to deficits in transport companies, costs for infrastructure maintenance also contribute to the red figures of the group – costs that are usually borne by the federal government. Even if recent agreements compensate for additional costs from high construction cost increases retroactively through equity contributions from the federal government, DB is being led further into financial quicksand by the government.

(Berlin) The continuation or acceleration of DB’s existing debt strategy is irresponsible. GÜTERBAHNEN Managing Director Neele Wesseln called on the federal government to provide a sustainable financing model for rail infrastructure and warned of unpredictable financial time bombs at the expense of the younger generation: “This does not mean that we should tighten the savings screw even further. On the contrary: The federal government and no one else must fulfill its constitutional guarantee obligation for the maintenance and expansion of its rail network as stated in Article 87e. Broken and missing tracks contradict the formulation of this constitutional mandate. Equity contributions or the revived debate about federal loans to DB for network renovation and expansion are mere accounting tricks. With this, the current generation wants to shift its financial responsibility either to future generations or to railway customers. Neither of these options is provided for in Article 87e of the Basic Law. After all, the federal government also finances its highways predominantly from general and annual tax revenues.”

Wesseln also criticized that the structure of DB’s debt, which has rapidly grown to over 34 billion euros in the last decade, is also a generational problem. Wesseln: “Weakly competitive DB companies and the corporate bureaucracy continue to increase the debt and secretly hope that the federal government will eventually relieve its company of debt. However, this strategy harms the entire rail system in the transport market.”

Funds for Future Investments Are Lacking

Because outdated subsidies, such as the diesel tax privilege, are maintained even in challenging situations, funds for future investments are lacking. It is not the debt brake, but a low state share that is the central political metric for the finance minister, guiding his behavior. Wesseln: “This increasingly leads to necessary investments in the expansion and even the maintenance of infrastructures being neglected due to the difficult budget situation. Travelers and companies feel the consequences through continuously declining quality.”

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