Deutsche Bahn is an international passenger transport and cargo company with more than 338,000 employees worldwide.
Its history goes back to the first half of the 19th century.
The current organization goes back to the Deutsche Bundesbahn, which was responsible for rail traffic in West Germany from 1949 to 1994.
Berlin - Today's Deutsche Bahn was launched in the mid-1990s after German-German reunification.
Today around 211,000 people work for the railways in Germany.
This makes the organization one of the largest employers in the country.
Deutsche Bahn: Background and History
Today's organization Deutsche Bahn (DB AG) is the result of the merger of the Reichsbahn of the GDR and the Deutsche Bundesbahn.
Both state-owned companies were deep in the red after reunification and posted losses in the billions.
Reforms by both railway companies excluded those responsible.
Instead, they converted both the Reichsbahn and the Bundesbahn into a stock corporation: Deutsche Bahn AG was officially founded on January 1, 1994.
The history of the railway goes back much further.
The first journey on rails took place on December 7, 1835.
She went from Nuremberg to Fürth.
After the German Empire was founded in 1871, there were numerous different railway companies with their own administrations.
They mainly served local and regional transport;
Long distances were not common at the time.
After the First World War, the state railways merged to form the Deutsche Reichseisenbahnen.
In 1924, the individual companies were bundled in a central organization: the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft.
This operated the rail traffic until the end of the Second World War.
With the division of the German states, the railroad followed: in the east the railway company was still called the Deutsche Reichsbahn, in the west the Deutsche Bundesbahn was founded.
Deutsche Bahn: The background to the rail reform in the 1990s
With reunification, the demands on a unified rail network and thus on the unification of the Reich and Bundesbahn increased.
After the merger was sealed in January 1994, years of modernization and rationalization followed.
The newly founded Deutsche Bahn cut staff and reorganized large parts of the rail network.
So it put local rail traffic in the hands of the federal states and expanded high-speed routes.
It all started with the high-speed line Hanover-Berlin.
It opened in May 1998.
In the 2000s, Deutsche Bahn made a name for itself through further reforms.
New price systems, seven new Intercity Express (ICE) lines and the establishment of a new “Services” division were part of this.
In the late 2000s and 2010s, Deutsche Bahn invested in various companies, including the European rail company Thalys.
In 2010 the railway company acquired the British transport company Arriva.
Deutsche Bahn: The organization and its subsidiaries
The corporate form of Deutsche Bahn has been that of a stock corporation since it was founded.
Nevertheless, the railway is not listed on the stock exchange.
Rather, it is still completely owned by the Federal Republic of Germany to this day.
In the years 2006 to 2011 this was discussed controversially, almost 50 percent of the organization should be privatized.
In 2011, however, the IPO was rejected.
Today, numerous subsidiaries belong to Deutsche Bahn:
DB Arriva plc
DB Bahnbau Group
DB Cargo AG
DB Gastronomy GmbH
Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures GmbH
ioki GmbH
DB Energie GmbH
DB vehicle maintenance GmbH
DB Fernverkehr AG
DB Connect
DB communication technology
DB Netz AG
DB Regio AG
DB Schenker
DB Services GmbH
DB Security GmbH
DB Station & Service AG
DB Systel GmbH
DB Systemtechnik GmbH
DB Sales GmbH
Large parts of the rail network in Germany are operated by the group subsidiary DB Netz.
Long-distance passenger transport is maintained by the subsidiary DB Fernverkehr, while DB Cargo is responsible for freight transport.
DB Regio maintains local passenger transport.
Around half of Deutsche Bahn's sales are generated in rail transport.
The other half goes to the account of the transport and logistics business as well as other service companies.
Deutsche Bahn: Participations and Responsibilities
In addition, there are holdings in other companies:
DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH
DB BahnPark GmbH
Deutsche Verkehrs-Assekuranz-Vermittlungs-GmbH
DB Immobilien - Real Estate Manager of the DB Group
DB Dialog GmbH
Flexibility
DB Competition Claims GmbH
Deutsche Bahn: The rail network
The railway runs in Germany on around 38,400 rail kilometers.
This makes the German rail network one of the largest in Europe.
Deutsche Bahn maintains around 33,400 kilometers of this, making it the most important operator.
The rail network has been growing steadily since the merger of the Bundesbahn and Reichsbahn in 1994.
To date (as of 2021), passenger traffic has increased by around 50 percent and freight traffic by almost 90 percent.
In total, the railways cover more than a billion kilometers per year on the DB AG network.
Although the entire route network does not belong to DB, the organization's trains can use it.
Conversely, the same applies to the various private operators.
You are also on the Deutsche Bahn rail network.
The rails are usually used by both freight and passenger traffic.
Some ICE trains have their own routes.
The rail network of the DB is constantly being expanded.
In 2021 alone, 12.7 billion euros are to flow into the modernization and expansion of the railway infrastructure.
They are to be invested in more than 1,900 kilometers of track, new employees, bridges and train stations.
In addition to its own funds, the group uses funds from the federal and state governments.
Deutsche Bahn: Personal data and sales
Due to the corporate form of the stock corporation, Deutsche Bahn has a supervisory board.
This consists of 20 members.
Ten of them are shareholders' representatives and another ten are employees of the organization.
The chairman of the supervisory board is Michael Odenwald (as of the end of 2021).
Deutsche Bahn and its subsidiaries each have a CEO.
Dr.
Richard Lutz has been taking on this role throughout the Group since 2017. The other chairmen are distributed as follows:
Ronald Pofalla: Board Member for Infrastructure
Dr.
Levin Holle: Chief Financial and Logistics Officer
Berthold Huber: Board Member for Passenger Transport
Dr.
Sigrid Nikutta: Head of Freight Transport
Dr.
Daniela Gerd tom Markotten: Head of Digitization and Technology
Martin Seiler: Head of Human Resources and Law
Deutsche Bahn employs almost 339,000 people worldwide, including around 211,000 in Germany. The lion's share of the international workforce is located in Europe; the company has the second largest presence in Asia and the Pacific, followed by North America.
In 2020, Deutsche Bahn generated sales of almost 40 million euros.
Compared to the previous year, it posted losses of ten percent.
In 2019, sales were around 700 million euros.
The main reason for the losses were the travel restrictions in the wake of the Corona crisis since spring 2020. As a result, the number of passengers dropped significantly - from around 150 million in 2019 to 81 million the following year.
That year the organization suffered the greatest loss in its history.
Even in the first half of 2021, the numbers are in the red: More than 1.4 billion euros were posted.
Deutsche Bahn: controversies and strikes
Deutsche Bahn keeps making negative headlines.
On the one hand, the inadequate punctuality of the trains has been criticized.
At the end of 2018, the punctuality rate was just over 70 percent.
According to a five-point plan presented in January 2019, this should be significantly improved.
In long-distance traffic, the target is 76.5 percent.
On the other hand, the railways are regularly on strike by the unions.
The strikes are the result of failed collective bargaining, especially with the train drivers' union (GDL).
Since the year 2000, this has been making a name for itself in comparison to the second railway union EVG (Railway and Transport Union).
While the GDL represents the DB locomotive drivers, the EVG advocates the interests of all other employees.
