GERMANY'S state railway operator Deutsche Bahn is to be partially privatised after the country’s coalition government worked out a compromise deal. Just under a quarter of passenger and freight operations could be sold by the end of this year.
The decision means that the majority shareholdings in Britain’s EWS and Chiltern Railway train operating companies — which DB acquired last year — will remain in the ownership of the German state.
A committee of Germany's ruling coalition parties finally agreed this week that up to 24.9 percent of the businesses handling passenger and cargo traffic, as well as logistics will be sold.
But the 34,000 kilometers (21,000 miles) of tracks and all stations will remain completely state-owned.
Germany’s Federal Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said he expected the partial privatisation to raise between six and eight billion euros (£4.75 - £6.3 billion). Until now, most estimates of the value had been in the range of five to six billion euros.
Herr Tiefensee said the government hoped to push through the sale in November or December of this year. "If the market doesn't allow this, then we may need to wait one, two or three months," he said.
Deutsche Bahn is one of the biggest transport companies in the world and Germany's largest employer, with annual revenues of around 30 billion euros (£24 billion) and more than 220,000 staff.
DB’s management is reported to have agreed with the trade unions that there will be no lay-offs for the next 15 years as a result of the privatisation.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Yeah right. Let Gordon Brown in charge of the railways with modern, managerial thinking. Don't make me laugh . They'd have more U-turns than a busy westminster junction on a saturday night. This lot couldn't run a bath!
Amir Aleseyed, EastBourne, United Kingdom
Learn your lessons from the UK!
Keep as much as you can under state control - definitely the tracks and infrastructure.
As much as I welcome and appreciate free markets, I think state owned transport with modern, managerial thinking is the way forwards!
Paul, Bradford, England