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'Deutsche Bahn AG' (abbr. ''DB AG'', ''DBAG'' or simply ''DB'') is the successor of the former state railways of Germany: the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany, the Deutsche Reichsbahn of the German Democratic Republic and the West Berlin VdeR.

Contents

History

Corporate subdivisions

Members of the board

Codeshare with airlines

Privatization project

Rolling stock

See also

References

External links

History

The Deutsche Bahn AG was founded on January 1, 1994 and, contrary to its predecessors, is a public limited company. The founding of DB AG was seen as the first step of the so called ''Bahnreform'' (administrative railway reform) and should not be confused with the planned privatisation. As of 2007, all of its shares are still held by the Federal Republic of Germany, though privatisation is planned.
The second step of the ''Bahnreform'' was carried out in 1999, with DB AG forming the holding. All rolling track, personnel and real assets were divided among the holding and the five prinicipal subsidiaries: ''DB Reise & Touristik AG'' (long distance passenger service, later renamed to ''DB Fernverkehr AG''), ''DB Regio AG'' (regional passenger services, in the course of the reform under charge of the federal states), ''DB Cargo AG'' (freight services, later changed to ''Railion AG''), ''DB Netz AG'' (operating the railway system), and ''DB Station & Service AG'' (operating the stations). This new organisational scheme was not least introduced to implement the European Community directive 91/440/EWG that demands access to railway system free of discrimination. Important parts of the legacy of the former state railways (like civil servants formerly working for one of the state railways) are formally held by the Bundeseisenbahnvermögen. The group is the largest German railway enterprise and one of the largest transport corporations in the world. About two billion passengers are served each year.
DB AG has taken over the abbreviation and logo ''DB'' from the West German state railway Deutsche Bundesbahn, although it has modernised the logo, which is occasionally called "Dürrkeks" (after Heinz Dürr, the first chairman of the DB AG), a play on words meaning "meagre biscuit", referring to its shape and the sans-serif font, especially when compared to the older, more rounded Bundesbahn logo.
Originally, the DB Holding was headquartered in Frankfurt am Main but moved to Potsdamer Platz in central Berlin in 1996, where it currently is located in a 26-storey office tower designed by Helmut Jahn, which is located at the eastern end of the Sony Center and appropriately named BahnTower. As the rental agreement is to expire in 2010, however, the DB has announced plans to relocate its head offices to Berlin Hauptbahnhof. A move to Hamburg was briefly considered in 2005, but these plans were abandoned after political pressure.^[4]

Corporate subdivisions

The DB group today is divided into three main operations groups which consist of a number of subsidiaries. All these subsidiaries are companies in their own right, although most of them are 100% owned by the Holding.

★ 'Mobility' Passenger travel (among others DB Regio, DB Fernverkehr (formerly DB Reise&Touristik), DB AutoZug, DB Stadtverkehr, DB Vertrieb [formerly Service Center Vertrieb], Autokraft, DB Dialog)

★ 'Networks' Infrastructure and services (DB Netz, DB Services, DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung, DB Telematik, DB Systems, DB Energie, DB Fuhrpark, DB Sicherheit, DB Kommunikationstechnik, DB ProjektBau, DB Station&Service)

★ 'Logistics' Transport and logistics (Stinnes AG, with subsidiaries Schenker AG, BAX Global and Railion, formerly DB Cargo)
Further, less notable subsidiaries exist, sometimes jointly owned by DB and local government.

Members of the board

★ Hartmut Mehdorn (Chairman since December 16 1999) (worked in aeronautics from 1966-1995, i.e. Focke-Wulf, Airbus and DASA)

★ Diethelm Sack (Finance & Controlling)

★ Margret Suckale (Human resources) (formerly Mobil Oil)

★ Dr. Otto Wiesheu (Economy and politics) (Bavarian minister for economy and transport 1993-2005)

★ Roland Heinisch (Railway interconnection)

★ Dr. Karl-Friedrich Rausch (Passenger traffic) (Chairman of the board at Lufthansa 1985-2000)

★ Dr. Norbert Bensel (Transport and logistics) (ex-Daimler-Benz Aerospace)

★ Stefan Garber (Infrastructure and services)
Dr. Werner Müller is the current director of the supervisory board (also at Degussa and Ruhrkohle AG).
Historic chairmen of the board are

★ Heinz Dürr, 1994 to 1997, became director of the supervisory board afterwards.

★ Johannes Ludewig, July 9 1997 to September 30 1999

Codeshare with airlines

In conjunction with American Airlines, Emirates, and Lufthansa, ''Deutsche Bahn'' operates rail services (AiRail Service) between Frankfurt International Airport and Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Freiburg, Hamburg, Hanover, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg, and Stuttgart. Deutsche Bahn has the IATA designator 2A.

Privatization project

The planned privatization is subject of a highly controversial political discussion in Germany. Whereas the government claims the need for fresh capital and efficiency improvements in favor of the privatization, the opponents fear a deteriation of service in many less economic sectors. Major issue is the question whether privatization should be carried out with the railway system (integrated model) or without (split model). Currently a political trade-off is likely, with the split model as basis, but DB AG having the right to operate the railway system for 15 years. An open issue is the question of compenastion for investments into the system during this time.
The Social-Democrat Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee was to present a law project before the council of ministers which envisioned to sell 25% of the ''Deutsche Bahn'' beginning of 2008. At term, the state should retain control of the company by owning a 51% stake. German railways are evaluated at 20 billions Euros L'Allemagne s'apprête à vendre 25 % de la Deutsche Bahn, ''Le Monde'', 24 July 2007 . The ''Deutsche Bahn'' employs 230,000 persons .
As of September 2007, the impending engineer's strike is another problem for the privatization plans. The engineer's union 'GDL' has refused to accept the labor contracts between DB AG and other unions, claiming a 31% pay rise for its members. A strike would be the first nationwide railway strike since 1992 German court blocks train strike, ''BBC'', 8 August 2007 `.

Rolling stock

See also

★ DB Fernverkehr

★ DB Regio

★ DB NachtZug

★ Transport in Germany

★ Rail transport in Germany

★ History of rail transport in Germany

★ German steam locomotive classification

★ Numbering scheme of the German railways

References

1. Daten und Fakten zum Geschäftsbericht 2005 Deutsche Bahn AG
2. Daten und Fakten zum Geschäftsbericht 2005 Deutsche Bahn AG
3. Daten und Fakten zum Geschäftsbericht 2005 Deutsche Bahn AG
4. Bahn-Zentrale bleibt in Berlin

External links

★ DB corporate home page

★ DB travel portal

★ DB timetable information