Train drivers union GDL resolves industrial action at the railway

Status: 23.06.2021 12:54 p.m.

With the beginning of the summer holidays in some federal states, rail passengers have to be prepared for strikes. The train drivers’ union GDL decided a labor dispute. The GDL intends to announce tomorrow exactly how it should look. At Deutsche Bahn, train driver strikes in the middle of the holiday season are getting closer. The union of German locomotive drivers (GDL) decided on concrete industrial action after failed negotiations with the employers’ association Move. GDL boss Claus Weselsky will not announce the exact scope and time of possible work stoppages until Thursday at a press conference in Berlin. According to the GDL, the corresponding committee resolutions are available. A railway spokeswoman asked the union to return to the negotiating table. There are well-founded offers for more wages and additional protection against dismissal on the table, about which the GDL top has so far refused serious negotiations.

First warning strike since December 2018

Immediately before the start of the school holidays in several federal states, the union is increasing the pressure on the management of the railway. The GDL declared the negotiations to have failed last Tuesday. It is the first warning strike on the railways since December 2018, when the Railway and Transport Union (EVG) called on its members to take part in a labor dispute. Both unions are fighting with each other for influence in the state company. The EVG had already reached a collective agreement last autumn. From the beginning of 2022, employees will receive 1.5 percent more money – little compared to collective bargaining rounds in better times. Compulsory redundancies are excluded until the end of 2023.

GDL wants more

The GDL wants to get more out of money and working hours. Both sides had moved somewhat towards each other before the failure of the negotiations. Based on the collective bargaining agreement for the public service, the GDL is calling for an income increase of 1.4 percent plus a corona bonus this year and a further 1.8 percent next year. The employees deserved more than compensation for the price increase, argues Weselsky.

According to its own statements, Deutsche Bahn had proposed increases in incomes as in the public sector, but in relation to the airport sector. An “emergency collective agreement” had been concluded for airports because of the slump in traffic. The 1.4 percent increase in income there will only be in October 2022, the other 1.8 percent not until April 2023. Employers will also have the option of reducing working hours by six percent in 2022. The level of the collective agreement for the public service is to be reached in October 2023

Trend reversal in local transport The train discovers the surface

Status: 06/22/2021 6:53 p.m.

Deutsche Bahn reactivates 20 disused routes and expands again into the area. The goal: Local transport should also become more attractive for people in rural areas.

Of Ulrich Crüwell, rbb

Despite all – partly justified – criticism of Deutsche Bahn AG: No other means of transport is under the same economic pressure as rail transport. “The rail is the only transport infrastructure that is shrinking. It is the only transport infrastructure that has to pay off. If we apply these standards to motorways, some roads in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania would have to be demolished immediately,” says Dirk Flege, the managing director of Allianz per rail.

The rail network is growing for the first time in ninety years

But the shrinking of the rail network has finally come to an end, says Flege and speaks of a turning point. The railway is no longer dismantling, but the network is growing – as the federal government has longed for.

In their coalition agreement, the Union and the SPD agreed to double the number of passengers by 2030. But despite political will, the rail network became smaller and smaller and the road network increasingly dense by 2020. Many smaller cities lost their rail connections. But now Deutsche Bahn is putting 20 disused routes with a total length of 245 kilometers back into operation. “This is clearly just the beginning,” announced Jens Bergmann, head of planning at the DB Netz division. For people who live in the countryside, this could be good news.

Historical undesirable developments

For Martin Henke from the Association of German Transport Companies, it is even a historic one, because it ends an undesirable development that began ninety years ago with the construction of the first motorway. In the fifties and seventies there were real shutdown programs for railway lines, according to Henke. The Germans clearly preferred the car and built one of the densest motorway networks in the world.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was a matter of optimizing, and politicians wanted the railway to be privatized as a stock exchange company. Rural local transport turned into a losing business. Deutsche Bahn speaks of a downward spiral: “If demand fell, little was done to make the route more attractive for passengers or freight traffic again.” According to Allianz pro Schiene, more than 15 percent of the rails were decoupled between 1990 and 2020 alone. But the mood in the country seems to have changed. The rail is experiencing broad political and social support, says association representative Henke. And this mood could also change the group.

“Every kilometer of track is active climate protection”

Among other things, the railway is putting closed connections in sparsely populated regions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein back into operation. Whether big money can be made with it seems at least questionable. But apparently that is no longer that important – what counts is political and social will.

Bergmann, board member of Deutsche Bahn, formulates the corporate objective as follows: “We want to attract more people to the railways, get more goods on the rails. Every kilometer of track is active climate protection.”

High-speed trains How Deutsche Bahn is planning the future of the ICE

As of: 06/09/2021 7:59 a.m.

Deutsche Bahn is currently expanding its fleet with new fourth generation ICE trains. They should be more reliable, but also slower than their predecessors. What are the future plans for the ICE? By André Kartschall, RBB The ICE fleet of Deutsche Bahn (DB) is growing. Instead of the current 330, 420 high-speed trains are to run within five years. This should connect the big cities in a much closer cycle. At some point, a fleet of 600 ICE trains will be on the move in Germany, according to the vision. “We get a new train every three weeks,” says Berthold Huber, Board Member for Passenger Transport at DB. Deutsche Bahn is currently receiving fourth generation ICE trains. They are more reliable and comfortable and now also have air conditioning systems that can withstand a hot summer. This was not always the case with the predecessors at all outside temperatures. But the ICE 4 also has a special feature: it is slower than its predecessor. He can do a maximum of 250 kilometers per hour. There have also been ICEs that drove more than 300. From August the ICE 4 should be allowed to be released for at least 265 kilometers per hour.

The eternal rival TGV

Deutsche Bahn is relying fully on the ICE in its future strategy. But the limits of what is feasible have long been fixed. For all that is known, the ICE will never be as fast as the French TGV, for example. That is not necessarily due to the train itself. But the ICE cannot shake off the comparison with its French neighbor. While the TGV reaches 320 km / h and speeds through the country without intermediate stops, German ICE trains struggle from city to city, sometimes with stops every half hour. This also increases the travel time. But also the number of people who can easily get on a long-distance train. Germany took a completely different path than France. In principle, nothing should change in that regard. TGVs run on their own tracks that are reserved only for them and have been upgraded to high speed. The ICE has to share the route network with everyone else – and therefore sometimes torment its way through the landscape at 120 km / h. Only special routes for the ICE would really change that. But they are not in sight.

Improvements, not revolutions

In addition, unlike in France, Germany’s major cities and thus the stops are so close together that it would be neither economical nor passenger-friendly to let the trains run at maximum speed. “That is why we in Germany will stay at top speeds of around 300 km / h,” says Huber. The fact that the ICE will have to be said to be slower than its French counterpart in the future cannot be changed, but it is in the nature of things, according to Deutsche Bahn. Two countries with completely different conditions would come to completely different solutions. “Basically, both of them did it right – each for themselves,” says Huber. The planned advances in Germany are of a rather minor nature: accessibility for wheelchair users, bicycle compartments, a better room layout for passengers and just a few km / h more at top speed should bring the next few years.

In the next generation up to 300 km / h

The travel time should not have a significant impact on all of this – and thus also not the competitiveness with the aircraft. After all: the fourth generation should be followed by a faster one – a further development of the predecessor. The ICE 3neo is said to be capable of speeds of up to 320 kilometers per hour, roughly as much as the original third generation. However, the German route network is only permitted up to 300 km / h at its fastest points.

Deutsche Bahn Train drivers announce strike

Status: 08.06.2021 1:43 p.m.

The collective bargaining has failed, the labor dispute is a done deal: The German Engine Drivers Union wants to call for a strike at Deutsche Bahn. A date is not yet known. Deutsche Bahn customers have to be prepared for strikes. The union of German locomotive drivers (GDL) declared its collective bargaining negotiations with the company to have failed and decided to take industrial action. The union has not yet announced a date. It also left open which areas of the company could be affected. The fourth round of negotiations between employers and employees also failed to bring an agreement on Monday. “We wanted to negotiate and reach an agreement, but DB refused again,” said union leader Claus Weselsky. He accused the railway of wanting to worsen the working conditions of the train crew and of lying in statements to the contrary.

First strike since December 2018

In the event of a strike, it would be the first at Deutsche Bahn since December 2018, when the Railway and Transport Union (EVG) called on its members to take part in a labor dispute. The last wave of strikes by the GDL was six years ago. The railway had already seen the escalation coming after the unsuccessful conversation in Berlin. After the meeting, Chief Human Resources Officer Martin Seiler criticized that the union aimed at confrontation at all costs. The GDL consciously accept damage for customers. The group is still ready to talk.

According to the railway, the union is not ready to talk

According to its own statements, the railway proposed a collective bargaining agreement on Monday that would have brought employees increased incomes, as in the public sector in the airport sector. However, the union refused to talk about leeway and solutions. You insist on significantly higher demands. The contracting parties in the public service agreed in autumn on wage and salary increases of 3.2 percent over a period of 28 months. Due to the slump in traffic, however, special rules apply at airports with delayed tariff increases, reduced working hours and a suspension of performance-related pay.

Deutsche Bahn announced at an inopportune time

The labor dispute hits not only the customers, but also the financially troubled company at an inopportune moment. After the relaxation of the corona rules, the state-owned company’s business is picking up speed again. In regional traffic you drive the full range, in long-distance traffic almost 100 percent, said Seiler. “Bookings are picking up again, that’s nice.” It is all the more important that the GDL make its contribution in solidarity. In September, the railway had put together a tariff package with its largest union, the railway and transport union. From the beginning of 2022, employees will receive 1.5 percent more money. No redundancies for operational reasons are possible until the end of 2023. In previous collective bargaining rounds, the almost 215,000 Deutsche Bahn employees were able to look forward to some significantly higher increases in income. The GDL refused to take part in the negotiations. An arbitration in autumn failed. After the wage agreement expired at the end of February, the new round of negotiations began.

In return for planned aid from the federal government in the Corona crisis at Deutsche Bahn, the board of directors should forego bonuses. This emerges from a decision of the budget committee of the Bundestag, which is available to the German press agency. According to the resolution, the Management Board of Deutsche Bahn AG will be asked to forego variable remuneration or comparable remuneration components, special payments, profit sharing or other separate remuneration in 2022 for the 2021 financial year. In view of the corona crisis, the group management board had not received any bonuses for the past year.

Help against bonuses

The federally owned Deutsche Bahn is dependent on federal financial aid, as the Corona crisis had caused a slump in passenger numbers. The result was a record loss of 5.7 billion euros in 2020. In order to cope with the loss, the federal government had already announced billions in aid. An increase in equity by five billion euros is planned. However, the payment is dependent on the approval of the EU Commission. It must ensure that the aid does not put competitors at a disadvantage. One of the requirements of the EU is said to have included the executive board’s waiver of bonuses, as the “Spiegel” reported.

Criticism from the union side

The discussion about the Executive Board bonuses for the current year was therefore held intensively. In January, the federal chairman of the Union of German Locomotive Drivers (GDL), Claus Weselsky, criticized the DB board of directors saying that “their own bonuses are obviously more important than the weal and woe of the railway system”. The DB board did not want to tighten their belts despite Corona, but demanded that from the direct staff, according to Weselsky. The Green budget politician Sven-Christian Kindler said: “There is no question that the board of directors cannot get bonuses in view of the billions in aid. Right so that the budget committee has clarified that again.”

Reform of the remuneration rules

Kindler also demanded that the bonus regulations for the rail board would have to be fundamentally revised and reduced for the time after Corona. In general, the federal government must ensure that the board of directors is remunerated with moderation and moderation. According to Kindler, it could not be that the variable remuneration, i.e. the bonus payments, was as high as the fixed salary in the last few years before Corona. The current freeze on bonuses is the ideal opportunity to reform the remuneration regulations for the railway management board.

Agreement with Brussels soon?

The negotiations between the German government and the EU Commission should be on the home straight. Significant progress has been made, reported the dpa news agency, citing government circles. The aim is to find an “industry solution” from which not only Deutsche Bahn but also the competition should benefit. The focus is on lowering train path prices, for example in rail freight transport. This is now stored in the planned supplementary federal budget for 2021. In return, when the federal government plans to increase equity for Deutsche Bahn, there should no longer be any competition requirements for the group. The aim is a “modular solution” totaling around five billion euros.

If, from June, company doctors can also be supplied with vaccines, as the Federal Minister of Health said Jens Spahn announced on Monday , the Deutsche Bahn wants to vaccinate its employees themselves. For this purpose, vaccination centers are to be set up at at least ten locations in Germany. “The first are now being built in Munich and Nuremberg,” said a spokeswoman. No other locations were known at first. Which vaccine will be used has not yet been determined. As soon as enough vaccine is available, as many “systemically important employees as possible should receive a vaccination offer from their employer”. The group assumes that around half of the employees in Germany are classified as systemically relevant. Many of them belong to group 3 in the federal corona vaccination regulation. This includes 60 to 70-year-olds and people with a medical history, but also people who “work in particularly relevant positions in institutions and companies of critical infrastructure”. According to the vaccination ordinance, this also includes transport and traffic. Personnel director Martin Seiler emphasized that the decision to vaccinate is voluntary. There will also be no vaccination privileges, neither for employees nor for customers.

BASF pioneers

The chemical company BASF is one of the pioneers in vaccinations by company doctors. Employees from the Ludwigshafen headquarters can go there have been vaccinated since last Wednesday . A vaccination center was set up for this purpose – with vaccination booths, waiting and rest rooms. The vaccine from BioNTech is used first. Vaccinations are carried out in the order specified by the state: Initially, only employees with previous illnesses such as diabetes have the opportunity to do so. The group expects to be able to vaccinate up to 4,000 employees in the coming weeks. Most of the other major German companies from industry, trade and finance listed in the DAX and MDAX are also preparing for vaccinations for their employees, according to surveys. The insurance group Allianz has set up its own vaccination lines at several locations. A total of 27 vaccination lines have been operational at 15 different sites in the group since Monday. The chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer also hopes to be able to start in the second quarter. The Düsseldorf-based consumer goods company Henkel has also provided a vaccination center.

Vaccinate 1000 employees daily

Telekom reports that it can offer its employees vaccinations at 18 German locations and that it is able to vaccinate 80 percent of its employees in Germany within two months. At the automotive supplier Continental, a good 1000 employees in Germany could be vaccinated every day, announced the DAX company from Hanover. “Our company doctors are ready,” said a spokeswoman for the German press agency. The energy company RWE is also in the starting blocks. “RWE could get started next week – if there is a vaccine for the companies,” said CEO Rolf Martin Schmitz of the “Rheinische Post”. The entire workforce could be vaccinated in two weeks. “Then we would offer to vaccinate the families of the employees,” said Schmitz.

The competition authorities of the European Union have imposed a fine of around 48 million euros on Deutsche Bahn. The background is violations of European antitrust law, as announced by the EU Commission. In addition to Deutsche Bahn, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer belges (SNCB) are also affected. “The companies were involved in a cartel in which the division of customers was concerned,” announced the EU Commission. The companies had admitted their participation in the cartel. Specifically, it was about freight traffic on certain railway corridors.

Agreements between three railway companies

The Commission’s investigation showed that the three companies illegally exchanged customer inquiries and provided each other with higher price offers. There were corresponding agreements between 2008 and 2014. Deutsche Bahn emphasized that the customers had not suffered any economic disadvantages. According to the Commission, the Austrians were completely waived their fine of 37 million euros under the leniency program. Deutsche Bahn and SNCB also benefited from discounts because of their cooperation with the competition authorities in the investigation. The SNCB, for example, would have to pay a fine of 270,000 euros in the end.

The federal government is facing an agreement with the EU on rail aid

The negotiations with Brussels over billions in federal aid for the railways seem to be about to reach an agreement: According to a letter from the federal government’s rail commissioner, Enak Ferlemann, the negotiations between Germany and the EU Commission are on the home straight. The letter from Ferlemann to members of the Bundestag says that one is in constructive talks with the commission about a building block system for both the railway company and the industry as a whole. According to this, a core element is that the fees for track use are almost completely waived for all railway companies. This should apply retrospectively from March 2020 to the end of 2021. In addition, the federal government can step in for the failed dividend of the Deutsche Bahn of 650 million euros this year and possibly also next year, which would have flowed back to the network subsidiary of the state company together with federal funds. There could also be disaster aid for the group during the pandemic.

Objections of the EU Commission

Actually, the Bund had the ailing Deutsche Bahn in the Corona crisis an equity injection of five billion euros has been promised. However, this encountered resistance from competitors and the EU Commission. Therefore, according to Ferlemann’s letter, the entire sector should benefit from aid. In freight transport, for example, Deutsche Bahn only has a market share of less than 50 percent, in local transport of around 70 percent. For the state company, this could mean support, according to estimates from industry circles, of up to four billion euros, since the infrastructure with the network is in the hands of the company.

German National Railway Company Deutsche Bahn (DB) high-speed train at the station in Munich, Germany, February 10, 2020. Photo: AFP / VNA The joint announcement stated that the BDL and DB aim to attract about 4.3 million passengers shifting from air to rail for domestic travel in the medium term. The program will also seek to increase the number of trains connecting to international flights, make the transfer between aircraft and train travel easier, and shorten the transit time by mid-rail. major cities of Germany. Through this partnership, the BDL and DB hope that CO2 emissions from Germany’s domestic air traffic can be reduced by a sixth. According to the German Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the country’s transport sector emissions in 2020 will decrease by 11.4% year-on-year, mainly due to the low Use a car more – especially for long-distance journeys – in the first blockade. The ministry noted that the COVID-19 pandemic also had a significant impact on Germany’s domestic aviation industry. By 2020, the CO2 generated by the sector is 60% less than the year before, thanks to travel warnings, blockades and canceled vacations. The German government is aiming to reduce emissions in the transport sector by almost 42% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.