The Federal Court of Auditors reports that Deutsche Bahn increased its debts in 2019, prompting concern about the economic situation of the state-owned rail company. 

Deutsche Bahn has exceeded debt limits

According to the most recent estimates by Germany’s Federal Court of Auditors, Deutsche Bahn’s finances this year fell short by several billion euros: “By the end of 2019, there will be a significant funding gap of almost 3 billion euros,” the court reported. Pointing to the negative trend in the company’s business development in the first half of 2019, the report concluded that Deutsche Bahn’s economic situation was worrying. 

Deutsche Bahn is a private, joint-stock company, but its only shareholder is the German state, meaning that it has financial obligations that it must stick to. However, the company’s debt threshold was already overshot as early as June 30 this year and currently stands at 1,5 billion euros more than the German government allows.

Rail company needs to tighten its belt

Extra investment into transport in Germany, including long-distance trains and Stuttgart 21 (a project to restructure the train lines in Stuttgart), as well as organisation inefficiencies, were all highlighted in the report as causes for the financial shortfall. 

If it cannot find a way to close this budget gap, the court warned that Deutsche Bahn will not be able to finance its investments “on [its] own”. As well as the planned sale of foreign subsidiary Arriva, the Court of Auditors also recommends that Deutsche Bahn sell its international logistics subsidiary DB Schenker to safeguard its future. 

Scheuer accused of ignoring problems at DB

German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer, who only last week outlined an ambitious, billion-euro plan to invest in green transport in Germany, said that he expects “clear answers” from Deutsche Bahn and that he has told the company it needs to re-organise and streamline. 

However, the report provoked strong criticism from some of Scheuer’s political opponents. Sven Christian Kindler, of the Green party, said that Scheuer and his predecessors have all continually ignored problems at Deutsche Bahn and that a corporate restructuring of the company was long overdue.