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Hamburg Central Station: A bottleneck for a long time
Photo: Daniel Bockwoldt / dpa
The chairman of the railway and transport union (EVG), Martin Burkert, wants significantly more money from transport minister Volker Wissing (FDP) for rail transport: »The rails are aging more and more.
It's been neglected for the last decade,' he said.
"Now everyone is waiting to see whether Minister Wissing will make good on his announcement and give priority to rail." The basic requirement for the success of rail transport is long-term and secure financing.
"We need 90 billion euros by 2027. So 45 billion euros of fresh money so that something can really succeed and rail becomes the number 1 mode of transport," said Burkert, who is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bahn (DB).
Collective bargaining: Twelve percent more wages?
DB is struggling with major infrastructure problems, and the rail network is overloaded.
For passengers, this is reflected not least in the many unpunctual long-distance trains.
At the same time, the federal government has set the goal of getting significantly more people on the rails, and the market share of freight transport is also to increase here.
In the coming years, Deutsche Bahn wants to make the most important routes fit for the future with general renovations.
For this purpose, these routes are to be completely closed for a few months in order to fundamentally rehabilitate or modernize them.
"If you're serious about the Deutschlandtakt, the digitization of the interlocking technology, the general renovations, then you have to invest now," said Burkert.
The next few months are crucial.
“In the first year, the transport minister was rather cautious.
Now it will be decided whether he will set accents.«
Burkert has been chairman of the EVG since October.
He previously sat in the Bundestag for the SPD from 2005 to 2020.
From 2014 to 2017 he was chairman of the transport committee, from 2005 to 2013 railway officer of the SPD parliamentary group.
Collective bargaining between EVG and DB begins in Fulda on Tuesday.
The union demands at least 650 euros more per month for around 180,000 employees.
According to its own statements, it wants to achieve an increase of twelve percent in the higher remuneration.
DB was asked to submit its own offer at the start of the negotiations – otherwise there was a risk of warning strikes.
apr/dpa
