The calendar of a boss of 330,000 employees is usually overflowing, but Richard Lutz likes to take his time for some things.

For regular conversations with Bahncard 100 holders, for example.

While Deutsche Bahn has already won over these “most loyal of the loyal” – at least for a year – others still need to be won over to the “company of the future”.

Especially the young generation.

Thiemo Heeg

Editor in Business.

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It's a difficult business.

Even those who don't experience it first-hand in the truest sense of the word read and hear little that is good about DB.

Unpunctuality, canceled trains, unfriendly employees and the infrastructure chaos are the topics in a continuous loop.

There are also rioters like Mario Barth and Jan Böhmermann, who either shoot live videos of three quarters of an hour about their "Maskenzoff" on the ICE and who immediately dismiss the train as a "joke" on public television.

The group has been strengthening its social media team for some time.

The railroaders have long been active on platforms like Tiktok.

And every now and then the boss has to do it himself.

In an interview about his media use three years ago, Richard Lutz admitted that he “had less to do” with Twitter and Facebook.

He was "probably too old" for that.

But why not discuss the “mobility of the future” with young Tiktok influencers and some 12th graders and position the train as the car alternative?

Every word is right here

According to Bahn, the “unique format” was recently implemented via online conference.

Pupils from the 12th grade of the Aachen Inda-Gymnasium and the Bonn twins Leonie and Sophie, whose Tiktok channel "Lesotwins" has around 2.5 million followers, were allowed to pester Lutz with questions of all kinds for an hour and a half.

The Bahn boss, who is actually so far removed from social media, presented himself surprisingly well – in a mixture of down-to-earthness and optimism about the future.

At the beginning a video was played.

The incumbent has no problem starting at the beginning.

"My name is Richard Lutz, I grew up in the Palatinate, where I met and married the sweetheart of my youth.

Started at Deutsche Bahn in 94 as a normal employee.

And yes, somehow along the way, uh, became Bahnchef, uh, became.

I've never regretted it.

Great job, a lot of fun.”

According to everything that is publicly known about Lutz, who is considered to be as unpretentious as he is with a love of detail, one can assume that every word is right here.

Maybe not always, but often.

After all, Lutz makes it clear that the "great job" isn't "a lot of fun" every day.

A student wants to know how Lutz felt when Jan Böhmermann recently "exposed" Deutsche Bahn - that is, exposed.

"Don't let everything drive you crazy"

"I have to tell you a secret: I didn't see it," says Lutz quite casually.

He is not someone “who looks in the newspaper every day to see what is praise and recognition or criticism”.

One shouldn't make one's own mental life dependent on what others say or write about one another, says the head of Deutsche Bahn.

Sometimes that is "anything but nice".

And there is sometimes a lot of negative energy on social media.

"Don't let it get you down and get you down," is his motto.

But he may not appear to be resistant to advice either.

"That doesn't mean I'm immune to criticism, but it's important to find a good balance between getting feedback and being able to listen, but still "not letting yourself be spooked and insane" by everything that comes to you approached - he personally finds that the greatest challenge.

Does anyone make it too easy?

Richard Lutz could only be accused of this if it were not on the subject.

But the 57-year-old, who comes from a family of railway workers, always has answers to the students' questions - without pretending that they are always optimal.

normality at the top

High prices?

Yes, but if you don't book at very short notice, you can travel by train very cheaply.

(And especially for young people there are "Young" super saver tariffs for 12.90 euros.) Constant work and constant construction sites in the rail network?

Yes, but many billions of euros are being invested in the rail network now and in the future in order to improve it.

Was the rail reform worth it?

Sure - 40 percent more passengers since 1994 and 80 percent more goods.

And what about the group – wouldn't it be better to separate infrastructure and operations?

Of course not - almost all successful orbits on this planet are integrated, only 2 percent are not.

This is how time flies.

In between, Lutz talks about his time as a teenager.

Everything quite normal.

“We were a normal clique.

I was a relatively normal student, not flashy one way or the other.

You tried to find your way a bit.” He was not a perfect student: “I did a two-degree Abitur, which I think was okay.” His motto?

"Why should a clever horse jump higher than it has to?"

Maybe it's just this normality that some people still appreciate about Lutz and others don't.

Especially in a political company like Deutsche Bahn, the character trait at the top is rather rare.

Predecessors like Hartmut Mehdorn stood for the other side.

But even they weren't more successful in the end.

After around one and a half hours, lots of private matters and lots of railway issues, the virtual curtain falls.

Has Lutz now convinced the young people to use the train as a means of transport?

The Bahnchef is a fan of happy endings in films.

On this day, it remains to be seen whether the time has come or whether Lutz still has to work a little harder.