"Now everything is supposed to get better. With a new boss, a realistic schedule, and a focus on passengers' expectations that trains run comfortably and reliably from A to B as scheduled. On Monday (22.9.2025) in Berlin, Patrick Schnieder, Minister of Transport in the Chancellor 's cabinet, introduced his choice for Deutsche Bahn's new CEO, Evelyn Palla, and presented his plan to improve Germany's railway."
""Today, we are taking up the baton for a new era. An era in which we will once again focus on what we do best: running trains, the railway as the lifeline of this country," 51-year-old Austrian national Evelyn Palla told journalists in Berlin on Monday. She is to replace the hapless railway boss Richard Lutz, who has been at the helm of the state-owned company since 2017. Lutz had repeatedly warned of the dilapidated state of the railways, but for a long time, politicians paid little heed to his warnings. One of his most memorable and often-repeated statements was: "We are carrying three times as much traffic as in 1990 on virtually the same network." Evelyn Palla has been on the Deutsche Bahn board since 2019 and has been responsible for regional transport since 2022, managing to whip it into shape. In fact, local transport has recently been in the black and has attracted more customers. Union representatives of the 235,000 Deutsche Bahn employees have expressed appreciation for Palla herself taking and passing the test to get her locomotive driver's license last year. "I wanted to know what it feels like to sit in the driver's seat. And also to understand what our employees do every day and what our core business is all about," Palla said at the time."
Deutsche Bahn has faced long delays, missed connections, cancellations, dirty stations, broken tracks, failing signal boxes, persistent track work, poor onboard service, and dirty toilets. The government nominated Evelyn Palla as CEO on 22.9.2025 with a plan emphasizing realistic timetables and a renewed focus on comfortable, reliable point-to-point service. Patrick Schnieder presented the nomination and improvement plan in Berlin. Palla, a 51-year-old Austrian, joined the Deutsche Bahn board in 2019 and led regional transport since 2022, improving performance and finances. Palla earned a locomotive driver's license to better understand operational work. Richard Lutz will be replaced after long-standing warnings about network strain.
Read at www.dw.com
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