Source: Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa/Archive
Deutsche Bahn recently had to admit significant punctuality problems. New figures now show that the compensation paid out has almost doubled. Bahn boss Richard Lutz and other board members received significantly more money in 2022.
ADue to train cancellations and delays, Deutsche Bahn had to compensate its customers with a record sum last year. The company paid out a total of 92.7 million euros to travelers – 54.5 million euros more than in 2021, as reported by the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” (Wednesday), citing a spokesman for Deutsche Bahn.
It is not just the sum of the amounts paid out that has almost doubled. According to this, around 3.8 million applications for compensation were processed last year. “That’s around 2.2 million more cases than in 2021,” said the spokesman. There are several reasons for the increased number of applications: After the Corona years of 2020 and 2021, the number of travelers rose sharply again. In addition, customers have also been able to claim their compensation online since June 2021. This only takes a few minutes “and is therefore used more frequently than before, using only the analogue passenger rights form,” said the spokesman.
Railway boss Richard Lutz admitted considerable problems with the punctuality of the railways at his balance sheet press conference last week. In long-distance traffic, it fell from 75.2 percent in 2021 to just 65.2 percent in 2022. In accordance with passenger rights, customers receive compensation of 25 percent of the fare paid for a single journey from a delay of 60 minutes at the destination station, from 120 minutes minutes it is 50 percent.
However, the problems did not have a negative impact on the remuneration of the group’s board members. In the past year, Lutz received more than twice as much money from his company as a year before. According to the current annual report, the remuneration of the CEO was 2.24 million euros. His base salary was almost 970,000 euros. Added to this was a bonus of more than 1.26 million euros. Infrastructure board member Berthold Huber ended up with a total remuneration of 1.41 million euros (2021: 662,000 euros), HR board member Martin Seiler earned 1.39 million euros (2021: 659,000 euros).