Billion-Euro Loss: Deutsche Bahn Announces Massive Job Cuts

Deutsche Bahn is grappling with a severe crisis. With a loss of 1.2 billion euros in the first half of 2024, the company has announced drastic measures. The plan involves cutting approximately 30,000 jobs over the next five years. This move is part of a comprehensive restructuring effort aimed at stabilizing finances and securing the company"s future.

In the first half of 2024, Deutsche Bahn reported a loss of 1.2 billion euros. The enormous loss is attributed to strikes, extreme weather, numerous construction sites, and reduced demand for train travel. These factors have significantly worsened the company's financial results compared to the previous year. To address this financial imbalance, Deutsche Bahn plans extensive job reductions. CFO Levin Holle has announced that around 30,000 full-time positions will be cut over the next five years. The administration will be particularly affected, with approximately 1,500 positions being eliminated this year alone.

According to Holle, the company will need to operate with fewer employees and is heavily relying on digitalization and automation. These technologies are expected to make administrative processes more efficient and allow a smaller workforce to handle tasks. Despite these measures, CEO Richard Lutz remains optimistic and expects the company to return to profitability by the end of the year. Lutz attributes this optimism to the numerous investments in infrastructure made last year, which are expected to have a long-term positive impact. The company's revenue for the first half of 2024 was 22.31 billion euros, a decrease of three percent from the previous year.

Deutsche Bahn attributes its poor financial results to several external factors. Extreme weather events have placed additional stress on an already deteriorating rail infrastructure, exacerbating operational and financial conditions in passenger and freight transport. Additionally, strikes and incidents like the Rauhebergtunnel accident have worsened the situation. There was also a decline in customer demand. In the first six months of 2024, 64.2 million passengers used Deutsche Bahn's long-distance trains, a six percent decrease compared to the previous year.

Another issue is the punctuality of the trains. In the first half of 2024, the punctuality rate for long-distance services was only 62.7 percent, well below the target of 70 percent. The situation was particularly severe in June, when flooding, dam damage, and landslides significantly disrupted rail services, with nearly half of all trains being delayed. Despite these challenges, June was the most profitable month in Deutsche Bahn's history due to the European Football Championship.

A positive exception is the logistics subsidiary DB Schenker. The company achieved an operating profit of 520 million euros in the first half of 2024. However, even DB Schenker could not offset the overall losses of Deutsche Bahn, as its profit decreased by around 100 million euros compared to the previous year.

Deutsche Bahn faces a challenging task. The announced measures are drastic but necessary to secure the company's future. The coming years will reveal whether the strategy will succeed in stabilizing Deutsche Bahn and putting it back on a stable path.

Autor: Redaktion
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Donnerstag, 25 Juli 2024