Claus Weselsky, Chairman of the German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL), spoke in an interview with “Focus Online” about the state of Deutsche Bahn.
This was “worse than ever,” he said. The reason: the train is neither punctual nor reliable.
According to Weselsky, it is now “time to replace the board of directors”. He is also in favor of merging DB Netz AG, DB Station und Service AG and DB Energie GmbH.
The state of Deutsche Bahn is “worse than ever,” said Claus Weselsky, chairman of the German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL). „Focus Online“. The quality of Deutsche Bahn can be measured by whether it is punctual, reliable and safe. “Two [der Elemente] we’ve lost in the meantime: punctuality and reliability,” Weselsky continued.
The railway system had been run down for decades. It is now no longer functional. “The board of directors is largely to blame for this,” says Weselsky. The railways are now heavily in debt. She has received enough money from the federal government in recent years.
The wrong standards were set. “The financial cycle that has been created over the decades is designed to invest taxpayers’ money in activities that have nothing to do with railroads,” Weselsky said. Deutsche Bahn takes care of all facets of mobility and logistics, promotes its foreign activities and acts as if it were a global player.
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According to the GDL boss, it is time to replace the railway board
It is now time to replace the board of directors and to change structures, Weselsky continued. He is ashamed of the fact that the Federal Ministry of Transport is obviously not in a position to “show management boards who have gone mad their limits”.
He criticizes that the railway board has never had a connection to the base. “Workers are rationalized away until the limit of resilience is reached,” says Weselsky.
Those responsible would also understand “hardly anything more about the railway system”. He himself usually plans at least an hour more for business trips, “because you can’t rely on anything anymore”. The railway board himself, on the other hand, hardly ever takes a train. “He lets himself be driven around in limousines.”
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Weselsky: Structures should be brought together
He hopes “that those responsible will finally create facts,” Weselsky continues. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing must “bring the rail system into a state in which we can, with a clear conscience, allow billions of euros in tax money to flow in.” In his opinion, DB Netz AG, DB Station und Service AG and DB Energie GmbH should be merged into one unit become.
The GDL boss demands that the money from the Planning Acceleration Act should only flow into the German railway network and not abroad. “Not to Canada to apply for local transport. Not to the USA to buy an airline.” Wissing emphasizes that the transport minister is not only responsible for cars. “He is responsible for overall mobility in Germany.”
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