Enlarge image
The three from the railway:
infrastructure board member
Ronald Pofalla
(right) stops on April 30th.
Bahn boss
Richard Lutz
(57, middle) would like to fill the post with
Berthold Huber
(59, acting board member for passenger transport).
But there is resistance
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
The search for a successor to the outgoing Bahn Manager
Ronald Pofalla
(62) escalates into a dispute.
On Tuesday it became known that rail boss
Richard Lutz
(57) wants to install his long-time board colleague
Berthold Huber
(59) as future manager of the rail network and thus as successor to Pofalla.
However, this proposal was rejected by the Berlin traffic light coalition.
Many politicians in the coalition consider Huber to be unqualified.
There is also outrage about Lutz's advance.
Because so far neither the coalition partners nor Transport Minister
Volker Wissing
(51, FDP) have decided on the Pofalla successor.
Consultations on this are not expected to take place until next week.
In the opinion of those in the know, Bahn boss Lutz hopes that his proposal will above all be a convenient solution.
He knows Huber from many years of working together at Deutsche Bahn.
In his current position as Board Member for Passenger Transport, Huber is one of Lutz's closest colleagues.
However, Huber has recently caused a lot of negative headlines in his department.
Critics accuse him of having incurred unnecessarily high losses in the pandemic.
They also blame him for delay records.
Critics consider Huber unsuitable
Many experts in the coalition consider Huber unsuitable for managing the complex infrastructure of the railway.
He lacked the specific knowledge, for example in construction site management.
In addition, he does not have the necessary political experience to advance the billion-dollar government-funded rail network.
In particular, the implementation of the planned Deutschlandtakt requires intensive coordination with federal and state politicians.
According to coalition circles, Transport Minister Wissing is also irritated by the push by the Bahn leadership.
Wissing has resolved to implement the coalition agreement.
The railway infrastructure should therefore remain an integral part of the DB Group, but be managed more independently than before.
In addition, the division should no longer cross-subsidize the other divisions of the railways.
According to the minister's environment, it is unlikely that Huber, who has been responsible for rail for many years, could make a convincing new start here.
The factions of the traffic light coalition want to discuss the Pofalla successor in the coming week.
The formal decision is then to be made in a special meeting of the Supervisory Board that has not yet been scheduled.