Amid persistent delays and other problems at Deutsche Bahn, Federal Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) has increased pressure on the company's leadership and announced consequences for executive salaries. "It will have a concrete impact on the bonus payments of Deutsche Bahn managers if the targets set by the federal government are not met," Bilger told "Bild am Sonntag."
Many Deutsche Bahn employees were doing "really good work," the new transport minister said. But "if it isn't satisfactory, that also has consequences for pay." "I believe that Deutsche Bahn's customers and taxpayers have a right to expect that success is genuinely measured," Bilger emphasized.
The federal government is currently preparing a new financing agreement with the state-owned company that will precisely regulate how many billions of euros flow into rail infrastructure. In future, this funding is to be linked to specific requirements.
The minister does not expect a significant improvement in long-distance punctuality. "What has currently been agreed with Deutsche Bahn is 70 percent punctuality in long-distance transport by 2029," Bilger said. A rate of 100 percent will "foreseeably not happen."
The new push to tie Deutsche Bahn executive bonuses to performance targets comes amid recent criticism from the company's own CEO, Evelyn Palla, who has openly called out what she described as "organized irresponsibility" within the state-owned rail group.
Palla told "Welt am Sonntag" that key decisions were often made centrally by group management, while employees on the ground were left to implement them without having had any say. When those decisions failed to work in practice, headquarters would blame frontline staff for poor execution.
She stressed that Deutsche Bahn has long had strong insight into its problems but has struggled for years with actual implementation, and that fixing this culture — not just diagnosing it, is now her priority. She also said missed targets rarely led to real consequences in the past, since it was often enough to simply explain why goals hadn't been met.
From breaking news to thought-provoking opinion pieces, our newsletter keeps you informed & engaged.
By subscribing, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
