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Freight train near Stuttgart: "Broken savings" division?

Photo: Arnulf Hettrich / IMAGO

According to the railway and transport union (EVG), DB Cargo is considering large-scale job cuts. 1800 employees are affected by the transformation plans of the board of the freight transport division of Deutsche Bahn, according to a leaflet from the union.

"The board members make mistakes, and our colleagues should pay the bill," said EVG Deputy Chairwoman Cosima Ingenschay. »We are resolutely opposed to this!« Furthermore, the union accuses those responsible that it is "downright absurd" from a climate policy point of view that the freight transport division is to be "saved".

Three-digit million loss in the first half of the year

According to a spokesman for DB Cargo, there is a transformation plan on how the freight transport division can be restructured and made more competitive. However, details have not yet been determined. "The decisive course for the transformation of DB Cargo is now being set by the Board of Management with the employees and the company's committees," he said. "The usual corporate regulations and participations of all committees" took effect. The ongoing talks – probably until the end of the year – are not to be anticipated.

It remains to be seen whether jobs will actually be endangered by the restructuring. At Deutsche Bahn, every hand is needed, it was said from railway circles. Perhaps it is more about redeployment of jobs within the railway group. "The decisive course for the transformation of DB Cargo is now being set by the Board of Management with the employees and the company's committees," it said.

The freight railway, with its approximately 31,600 employees, has been making a loss for years, and in the first half of 2023 its pre-tax result (adjusted EBIT) was minus 195 million euros. In the environment of the railway, it was said that DB Cargo was aiming for the year 2024 in the black. However, climate-neutral freight transport could also save ten million tonnes of CO₂ per year.

At the end of June, DB Cargo CEO Sigrid Nikutta announced that she would present a rescue plan for the crisis-ridden division by October. The basis is a so-called White Paper, in which Nikutta outlines profitable freight transport for the next few years. The union, in turn, wants to address its demands in the upcoming meeting of the group's supervisory board. First, »Business Insider« had reported on the conversion.

apr/Reuters