Union speaks of total failure
Federal Audit Office: Wissing does not have the railway under control
October 9, 2024, 5:59 a.m
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The federal government is the sole owner of Deutsche Bahn. Is Minister Wissing sufficiently asserting federal interests? The Federal Audit Office comes to a clear verdict.
The Federal Audit Office criticizes the railway policy of Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing from the FDP. The ministry is failing in controlling Deutsche Bahn AG, according to a report from the Court of Auditors to the Bundestag’s budget committee. The losers are the federal government, taxpayers and travelers.
The Federal Ministry announced in 2022 that it wanted to control the federally owned Deutsche Bahn better and align it more closely with federal interests, according to the 33-page report. “This was not successful,” said the Court of Auditors. An internal departmental steering group did not develop the necessary “effectiveness”. The federal government is the sole owner of Deutsche Bahn AG.
The federal government has limited influence over the new infrastructure division InfraGO. The ministry failed to disentangle InfraGO from corporate interests and make it personnel independent. Instead, the company’s resistance to restructuring was accepted. The Federal Audit Office recommends that the Budget Committee work to ensure that the federal government has “direct and far-reaching influence” on the railway infrastructure companies, as the report states.
Lange: “That didn’t work”
The deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group responsible for transport, the CSU politician Ulrich Lange, said that the Federal Audit Office certified that Transport Minister Wissing and the ministry had a “total failure” in the management of Deutsche Bahn. “The committees set up specifically for this purpose in the ministry are apparently only used to secure positions, but not to take effective action on the company.” This means that InfraGO also failed, the establishment of which Wissing sold as a central measure in order to be able to exert more influence. “That didn’t work.” Lange once again spoke out in favor of separating infrastructure and transport.
The railway recently presented a renovation program so that trains would run more punctually again in the coming years. In addition, the result should be improved. Wissing had previously increased the pressure on Deutsche Bahn and called for rapid improvements for more punctual and better utilized trains. The railway should work more economically.
Sectors such as freight and long-distance transport are in the red. The railway has developed a concept for the renovation of particularly stressed routes by 2030 – the renovation of the first route, the Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim, began in mid-July. It will be completely closed until mid-December.