“Germany needs a Strong Rail” - this is the slogan Deutsche Bahn (DB) uses to announce its umbrella strategy with which it wants to fulfill its responsibility as a climate protector and connector of politics, business, and society. For a sustainable transformation of the mobility sector, DB sees itself as an important factor in achieving the German and European climate targets. This is because DB is a corporation under private law, which is 100 percent owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. The ambitious goals for the implementation of the Strong Rail are therefore closely linked to the central transport and climate policy goals of the Federal Government. The ownership structure thus gives DB a certain key role in the implementation of the mobility turnaround. Therefore, the Strong Rail is an integral part of the solution for better climate protection in Germany.
„Train travel is active climate protection” – About the Strong Rail, the Green Transformation and Change
“Germany needs a Strong Rail” - this is the slogan Deutsche Bahn (DB) uses to announce its umbrella strategy with which it wants to fulfill its responsibility as a climate protector and connector of politics, business, and society (Deutschland braucht eine Starke Schiene, n.d.). For a sustainable transformation of the mobility sector, DB sees itself as an important factor in achieving the German and European climate targets. This is because DB is a corporation under private law, which is 100 percent owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. The ambitious goals for the implementation of the Strong Rail are therefore closely linked to the central transport and climate policy goals of the Federal Government. The ownership structure thus gives DB a certain key role in the implementation of the mobility turnaround. Therefore, the Strong Rail is an integral part of the solution for better climate protection in Germany.
The Strong Rail
The chronology of the Strong Rail began in 2018. According to the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport, the coalition agreement in the 19th legislative period at that time was the most rail-friendly ever. The agreed goals for the so-called “Alliance for the Future of Rail” included doubling the number of passengers to 260 million, an increase in the shift of goods to rail, and an expansion of the route network with shorter journey times and better connections (Bundesministerium für Digitales und Verkehr, 2021). Since mid-2019, Strong Rail has now become DB’s umbrella strategy. To this end, DB has set itself the goal of “harmonizing the dimensions of economy, social affairs, and ecology in an entrepreneurial manner” (Deutsche Bahn IR, n.d.). The aim is to make the railway more robust, more powerful, and more modern. DB sees itself as responsible for getting more traffic onto the rails for the sake of the climate, people, the economy, and European connectivity (Deutschland braucht eine Starke Schiene, n.d.). For the implementation, 15 +1 building blocks were defined, which have their share in the modal shift in different ways (see Figure 1). These include, for example, the expansion of the infrastructure, the recruitment of 100,000 new employees, the stabilization of processes, or the establishment of a “Deutschlandtakt”. For the latter, around 30 German cities are to be directly connected every half hour by 2030.
According to DB, the measures should lead to a reduction of CO2 emissions in Germany by 10.5 million tons per year. This corresponds to the CO2 footprint of one million people (Wüpper, 2019). Doubling the number of passengers in long-distance transport means that 5 million fewer car journeys are made on German roads every day. From an economic point of view, 13 million truck trips per year can be compensated by shifting trade goods to the rails (Deutschland braucht eine Starke Schiene, n.d.). “Economy and ecology can be excellently combined, especially by rail, without people having to compromise on mobility and the economy having to compromise on logistics” (Lutz, 2021).
Figure 1
The building blocks of the Strong Rail strategy
Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten
The Green Transformation
The building blocks of the Strong Rail also include the Green Transformation (see Figure 1). According to DB, this is a central prerequisite for the effectiveness of the modal shift and is considered a holistic approach and the basis of DB's entrepreneurial actions. Through it, “sustainability [...] is anchored as a guiding principle and an integral part of the corporate DNA” (Deutsche Bahn IR, n.d). Sustainability thus becomes an integral part of the corporate strategy.
The Green Transformation can be seen as an inclusive expansion module and aims to progressively “greening” all DB’s products and services. To this end, DB has defined 164 concrete individual measures under the label of its environmental brand “Das ist grün.” that contribute to the Green Transformation. These are categorized into five central fields of action: Climate protection, nature conservation, resource protection, noise protection, and social responsibility. The goals derived from this include the complete climate neutrality of the company by 2040, the complete reduction of noise along the tracks for all currently affected residents by 2050, or the achievement of 100 percent green electricity for the entire railway power mix by 2038 (Die Grüne Transformation der Deutschen Bahn, n.d.). It is important to mention here that due to the communicated targets, the current key figures of the various measures always represent a snapshot.
However, the communicated key figures of the railways concerning the climate targets allow for critical questioning in some places. As climate friendly as rail transport may be, it is still responsible for 2.4 percent of the total greenhouse gases in Germany (Braatz, 2022). In the traction power mix, only the ICE fleet runs on 100 percent green power so far. For the remaining rail segments, this means that less green electricity remains. In the traction current mix of 62.4 percent green power, gas (6.3 percent), and coal (20.3 percent) must be used to cover the necessary energy demand. In addition, 10.7 percent of the energy is generated from nuclear power (Kennzahlen, Ratings und Berichte, n.d.). Due to the current gas crisis and the extension of the lifetime of nuclear power plants, it remains to be seen whether DB will maintain the percentage of nuclear energy. Another point of criticism is that DB buys its green electricity through existing guarantees of origin and does not create its capacity by building its own energy generation plants. In this case, there would still be a lot of potentials, also because the railways are among the largest electricity consumers in Germany (Braatz, 2022).
Deutsche Bahn in a change process
Against the background of the strategic orientation of DB just described, it can be stated that the company is undergoing a multiple change process to which various external and internal drivers are contributing. On the one hand, the entire mobility turnaround is to be seen as a major cross-societal change process. This presents DB with the enormous task of using its product to move society in Germany towards climate-friendly mobility. On the other hand, through its ownership by the federal government, DB is also involved in the general political change processes for achieving the climate goals of the Federal Republic of Germany. Finally, the lack of investment in the old infrastructure over the years and the lack of reforms are taking their toll, which is why the new strategy can also be seen as a starting point for a change process within the company, for example, to improve the inadequate performance. With sustainable transformation, DB as a company must also transform itself to be able to support the change. Thus, DB is an actor in the change processes of its customers, its owner, and itself. This leads to an enormous task in terms of successful change management.
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- Quote paper
- Maximilian Scheller (Author), 2022, About the Strong Rail, the Green Transformation and Change at DB, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1359350
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