Friday, May 7th, 2021
“Almost unbearable”
Bahn board criticizes Baerbock debate
She is Deutsche Bahn’s wife for freight transport so that more traffic can get onto the rails. In the podcast “Die Stunden Null”, Sigrid Nikutta speaks about the state of emergency during Corona, her new climate campaign – and about the debate about whether a mother can move into the Chancellery.
She is one of the most prominent managers in Germany, made the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe profitable and is supposed to get the freight traffic for Deutsche Bahn under control: Sigrid Nikutta. And it makes her angry when mothers’ ability for leadership positions is still an issue – as was the case with Annalena Baerbock’s candidacy for chancellor. “I find this debate disavowing for Germany,” said Nikutta on the podcast “The Zero Hour”. “Because it shows how very old role models and old reflexes are anchored in the minds of so many. The only thing missing was the following sentence: It can’t be compatible, this wicked mother!”
The boss of DB Cargo – herself a mother of five – is annoyed when gender roles are only discussed again and again with women. “This eternal portrayal of successful women as exceptional is clearly discriminatory,” said Nikutta. “I find that almost unbearable at times.” She added: “My experience is that you can very well agree to have a large family and be politically successful, or to work as a manager in a commercial enterprise.”
In her role, Nikutta is faced with the task of promoting the change in freight transport from road to rail. A difficult year lies behind DB Cargo, the loss doubled to 728 million euros. “The rail has its traditional territory in large quantities for the manufacturing industries such as the automotive industry and the steel industry,” said Nikutta. “And they were particularly affected by Corona.”
The DB Cargo boss aims to modernize freight transport and improve its image. Freight trains were equipped with quiet brakes at the end of 2020, which, according to Nikutta, has “halved the perceived noise level of freight traffic”. Last year, 12 billion euros were invested in the network for projects such as the increasing digitization of rail transport. “But the brutal truth is: it just takes time to expand such a large network and modernize it accordingly,” said Nikutta.
She wants to emphasize the issue of climate protection even more: “I think it is important that we all develop an awareness of how the things we consume are transported. It is not enough just to buy organic muesli in the health food store. The decisive factor is: How is this organic muesli transported? With diesel trucks across Europe or by environmentally friendly rail? ”
Also hear in the new episode of “The Zero Hour”:
- How Nikutta’s father reacted when she took over as CEO of DB Cargo
- How many trucks a freight train can replace
- What do Willy Brandt and Annalena Baerbock have in common
You can find all episodes directly at Audio Now, Apple or Spotify or via Google.
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