After the Federal Audit Office and the CDU/CSU, the Monopolies Commission is also calling for fundamental reforms in the structure of Deutsche Bahn. “According to the Monopoly Commission, the advantages of a complete separation of the infrastructure and transport divisions outweigh the disadvantages. The aim should be to separate the operators of the infrastructure and the users of this infrastructure from each other,” said the president of the Monopolies Commission, Jürgen Kühling, Süddeutsche Zeitung.
According to the ideas of the Monopoly Commission, in the future there would be a company that would organize the actual railway traffic. Another completely independent and neutral company would be responsible for the 33,000 km railway network. This company would only be interested in having a well used and functioning network. “In our view, this would change things quite quickly for customers, other rail operators and for investments in the network,” said Kühling.
“Good proposal from Cdu and Csu”
The federal government, as the financier of the network, can directly influence the independent network company, the CDU and CSU stated a week ago in their document “Bahn Reform 2.0”. Under the same keyword At the end of 2021, the Pro Bahn passenger association called for a reform: “The railway infrastructure is owned and owned by the public sector.”
Kühling rated the CDU/CSU proposal as “good”. He described the traffic-light infrastructure company in the coalition deal, which plans to merge the railways’ infrastructure divisions, as a ‘step in the right direction’, but only as ‘half a step’. At the same time, major investments in the rail network are needed. Matthias Gastel, spokesman for the Greens on railway policy, he said in an interview with the Stuttgarter ZeitungTaking down the railroad, as proposed by the CDU and CSU, would take too long.
The Monopolies Commission advises the federal government on competition matters, and the Federal Audit Office keeps a close eye on it when it comes to spending money. Last month he came to the conclusion that 89 billion euros would be spent on modernizing the German railway network. In doing so, the auditors refer to Article 87e of the Basic Law: “The Confederation shall ensure that the public interest, in particular transport needs, are taken into account in the expansion and maintenance of the rail network of the federal railways and in their transport offers on this rail network are taken into consideration, insofar as these do not concern local passenger transport by rail.” The Federal Audit Office is also askingthat the Confederation should promote competition on the rails, “own railway companies are not absolutely necessary”.
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