Deutsche Bahn scraps DB Services sale after flawed economic forecasts
This criticism is directed particularly at the struggling subsidiary DB Services. Initially, the company planned to sell it off, then abandoned those plans, and later proposed integrating certain business units into DB Regio and DB Long-Distance. Now, however, after months of deliberation, the central works council and the EVG rail union have been informed that "calculations and plans were flawed," according to a letter addressed to CEO Sabine Palla and her HR chief, Martin Seiler. The intended breakup of DB Services is reportedly "economically unviable and operationally nearly impossible," as Loroch and Cengiz relay in the letter.
"After we had finally agreed on a direction, we now risk rolling backward into uncertainty once again," Loroch and Cengiz write. "As the executive board, it is irresponsible to jeopardize the jobs of these employees through such confusion and lack of planning." They describe the workforce as "deeply unsettled" by the constant back-and-forth. The real question, they argue, is why the board isn't first fulfilling its core responsibility: "developing a clear vision and strategic direction, and then assessing its feasibility and plausibility."
That is precisely what the board now intends to do. For next Monday, Deutsche Bahn CEO Palla has called an all-day executive retreat, where the individual strategic proposals she and her four fellow board members have developed will be consolidated into a coherent overall concept. But Kristian Loroch believes this comes far too late. "What we're seeing here is systemic failure," he told the newspaper. "Unfortunately, this is a continuation of the Lutz era. The entire board must now step up and take responsibility."
Read also:
- American teenagers taking up farming roles previously filled by immigrants, a concept revisited from 1965's labor market shift.
- Weekly affairs in the German Federal Parliament (Bundestag)
- Landslide claims seven lives, injures six individuals while they work to restore a water channel in the northern region of Pakistan
- Escalating conflict in Sudan has prompted the United Nations to announce a critical gender crisis, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the ongoing violence on women and girls.
