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Railway critic Hofreiter: The system is still not in good enough shape
Photo: Michael Kappeler/ DPA
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Hofreiter, will you be taking the train over Pentecost?
Hofreiter:
Of course.
However, I will only go on shorter distances.
Let's see how full the Oberlandbahn will be.
I have to get a picture.
The 9-euro ticket is a one-off experiment - and a good idea because it makes local transport palatable to people.
In contrast to many other rail reform projects, it is significantly better than it was years ago.
SPIEGEL:
This traffic light action hits a system at the stop.
The trains sometimes run on dilapidated tracks, the network is overloaded and there is a lack of staff in many places.
Why is the track in such bad condition?
Hofreiter:
Because it hasn't been adequately funded in Germany for over 70 years.
A railway worker once told me that not all war damage had been repaired.
Above all, there was the era of ex-Bahn boss Hartmut Mehdorn.
That was bad.
Switches and overtaking tracks were torn out, the infrastructure trimmed for profit.
It was fatal, and you can still feel the consequences today.
The system is still not in good enough shape.
SPIEGEL:
You explain the state of the railway with the mistakes of the past.
Aren't there also current causes?
Hofreiter:
Of course we have to ask ourselves whether Deutsche Bahn currently has enough money.
Nevertheless, we must not brainlessly pump money into an ailing system.
Reforms are needed, the main reason for this lies in the mistakes of the past, in management.
Only with new promises that the railway will soon improve, it does not get better.
SPIEGEL:
From your point of view, Deutsche Bahn boss Richard Lutz doesn't mean it seriously when he apologizes, as he did last Monday, for the "unprecedented number of construction sites"?
He also justifies the current chaos with the fact that more and more people want to travel by train - also with the 9-euro ticket.
That's positive.
Hofreiter:
The Bahn boss moans above all about the full trains in long-distance traffic, where the 9-euro ticket is not valid at all.
I find Lutz's demeanor rather strange, customer threatens with order, so to speak.
As a CEO, I would consider whether this lawsuit is appropriate.
SPIEGEL:
Is Lutz the right Bahn boss?
Hofreiter:
Mr. Lutz should ask himself that.
SPIEGEL:
Should he be dismissed?
Hofreiter:
The supervisory board decides on that.
SPIEGEL:
Ronald Pofalla, who left the board of directors for infrastructure, has been vacant for a month in the Deutsche Bahn management team.
So there is an urgent infrastructure problem at the railways - and no responsible board.
How can that be?
Hofreiter:
The Ministry of Transport and the Supervisory Board are responsible.
They should take care of it quickly.
SPIEGEL:
You were about to become a Deutsche Bahn supervisory board member.
How would you have done that?
Hofreiter:
You can always speculate.
One thing is certain: we have to reform the railways.
The best thing for the colleagues to do is entrust the future infrastructure director with this task.
The reform is expected to be completed by 2024.
I hope that the restructuring of the group will come a year earlier.
This is crucial in order to implement the plans of the coalition agreement – a rail infrastructure geared towards the common good and fair track prices.
SPIEGEL:
You have been a European politician since this legislative period.
How do you perceive Deutsche Bahn's reputation abroad?
court rider:
As bad.
Switzerland looks at us most critically.
The country has made massive advance payments and has built three Alpine base tunnels.
And we won't be able to finish trivial feeder lines that our trains are supposed to take there for at least 20, if not 30 years.
Added to this is the fiasco in the electrification of the route from Munich via Lake Constance to Zurich.
Electrification on German soil took more than 40 years - and only succeeded when Switzerland co-financed the German construction project with a loan of over 50 million euros.
We still drive diesel locomotives on routes to Poland and the Czech Republic, although everything on the side of these countries has long since been electrified.
And then there is the trouble with the arrival of the Brenner Pass for Italy and Austria.
So everyone is waiting for us
SPIEGEL:
You mentioned the supply to the Brenner.
The fact that there is not even a finished project on the German side is also due to the resistance of nature conservationists in Bavaria.
Are we setting the wrong priorities?
Hofreiter:
No.
The problem is not the conservationists.
We have to speed up the planning, for example by having only one court instance decide on objections.
This would first require capacity at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, so that there is no backlog of proceedings.
The court needs a special railway chamber that only deals with these issues.
But the big problems start well before the trials.
SPIEGEL:
So with the railways themselves?
Hofreiter:
DB Netz AG is planning construction projects and the Federal Railway Authority has approved them.
There is a lack of staff in both places – and even more so during construction.
This is why it took more than 13 years to expand the route from Augsburg to Munich to four tracks.
When the first two tracks were laid more than a hundred years ago, it took less than three years.
Despite the invention of the excavator, construction time has quadrupled.
And no conservationist has complained about that.
SPIEGEL:
Companies that build overhead lines are fully booked for years.
How could this problem be solved?
Hofreiter:
By urgently creating places where specialists can be trained.
There are now hardly any chairs for railway technology.
And then this ebb and flow of funds – sometimes there was a lot, then almost nothing.
That was enormously damaging for the railway industry, which did not build up any capacities.
After all, if you can't rely on orders in the long term, you won't invest.
SPIEGEL:
Against this background, how do you rate the Ministry of Transport's current budget?
Hofreiter:
The worst thing is this ups and downs. Railway systems are designed for the long term.
Reliable perspectives are needed for the coming decades.
For the railways, the employees, the trainees, the industry.
A reliable budget is essential.
Expenditure would have to increase slowly, not too quickly, as that would drive up construction costs.
SPIEGEL:
Is the FDP Minister Volker Wissing the right man for the traffic turnaround in Germany?
Hofreiter:
The Ministry of Transport urgently needs to make it clear that the railways need reliable money.
As it is now laid out in the budget, long-term projects cannot be implemented.
And we urgently need them if we want to bring stability to the system.
SPIEGEL:
Things should actually go much better if the transport and finance ministers come from the same party, as in the case of Wissing and his party leader Christian Lindner.
Hofreiter:
Then you would have to ask the two people involved.
Technically, it is clear what needs to be done.
SPIEGEL:
Not only the 9-euro ticket has been in effect since Wednesday, but also the fuel discount.
What do you think about this idea?
Hofreiter:
Unfortunately, we do not govern alone.
It was a classic compromise, in which the coalition partner FDP also needed a win – the reduced price at the pumps.
SPIEGEL:
It hasn't been possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport for years.
Can Wissing still change course?
Hofreiter:
We have a good climate protection law.
It ensures that every ministry has to save a certain amount of greenhouse gases in its mission.
If this does not happen, the pressure increases to introduce suitable immediate measures.
I hope the minister will also propose such.
One thing is clear: What we are demanding from Deutsche Bahn today will only be visible in years to come.
In the short term, our goal must be a turnaround on the road.
What is happening in the auto industry?
How quickly will the network of charging stations for electric cars be expanded?
SPIEGEL:
After more than a hundred days in office, the Ministry of Transport has still not issued a regulation on this.
Hofreiter:
These are difficult times, it affects all ministries.
I hope that we will make progress with the charging stations this year.
SPIEGEL:
Now you sound almost gracious in your dealings with Mr. Wissing.
Hofreiter:
One can also be merciful.
In Rhineland-Palatinate he has shown that he can make a positive difference, especially when it comes to the reactivation of railway lines in regional traffic.
It remains to be hoped that he will succeed in something similar at the federal level.
SPIEGEL:
By introducing a speed limit?
Hofreiter:
All parties and factions have areas in which they find it extremely difficult emotionally.
With the FDP it is the speed limit.
We Greens are still in favour.
It could also be introduced, at least temporarily, in order to use less Russian oil.
SPIEGEL:
The transport minister says there are no signs for this.
Hofreiter:
Mister Wissing is wrong.
A speed limit requires fewer signs than now.
Only the notices at the federal borders would have to be changed that a speed limit applies throughout Germany.