DEUTSCHE BAHN ÜBER ALLES

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: january 2011 :: RMTnews Deutsche Bahn über alles German rail company Deutsche Bahn and its web of subsidiaries have a significant and growing market share across Britain’s domestic bus, light rail and tram, passenger and freight rail, ports and logistics services. DB controls around 15 per cent of UK rail passenger train operations, 75 per cent of rail freight and 12 per cent of all land- hauled freight. Since 2008, DB’s regional railway arm, DB Regio, has operated passenger trains between London and Birmingham, as well as London Overground Rail Operations Limited. In February DB Regio won a seven- year private contract to operate ‘Nexus’ the Tyne and Wear metro, linking Newcastle and Sunderland. In April 2010 DB paid £1.6 billion for Arriva plc, Britain’s third largest bus operator with private rail operations across Europe and Britain from Wales to the ‘Cross Country’ route between Scotland and Cornwall. The new ‘DB UK Holding Limited’ contributes around 10 per cent of DB Group’s turnover. CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube described it as “a milestone for the passenger transport division of Deutsche Bahn”. DB now earns more foreign-generated turnover than any other company in the European passenger transport market. Arriva’s 42,000 employees alone created a turnover of approximately €3.8 billion in 2009. Hans Gerd Oefinger of German pressure group Bahn von Unten, (Railways from Below) points out that despite the postponement of DB privatisation in 2009 due to the global financial crisis DB has carried out EU rail ‘liberalisation’ directives by fragmenting the company. "The process of privatisation started in 1994 when Deutsch Bahn was transformed into a stake-holding company and since then it has been split up into 300 subsidiaries. “The drive for profit has meant that there has been less investment in infrastructure and safety. “The number of jobs has halved since the privatisation process started and contract Labour is almost slave labour. “Recently we had a very harsh winter and it was revealed that a [DB] sub- contractor hired Bulgarian workers who were paid just two euros an hour to clear the snow from the tracks," he said. He said that the German state railway was trying to create competition between German and French rail workers as the two countries battle for control of Europe’s rail networks. “They are trying to tell the German workers that the French are their enemies but what we need are rail networks under democratic control operating on the basis of co-operation not competition," he said. EUROSTAR DB is also determined to compete in international passenger rail services from London to the continent through the Channel tunnel. DB is taking on Eurostar, which operates services to Paris and Brussels, by preparing to run its Inter City Express (ICE) trains, made by German manufacturer Siemens, from London to Frankfurt, Cologne, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Yet trains through the tunnel have been operated since 1994 exclusively by Eurostar, which was born as a joint venture between the state-owned railways of Britain, Belgium and France. RMT argued that Eurostar trains are purpose-built for channel tunnel operation. Cross-exits in the tunnel, which can be used for passenger evacuation are 400 metres apart – the length of Eurostar trains – for fire safety reasons. Siemens ICE trains are much shorter, which creates additional risk in the event of fire. Three fires — none involving Eurostar trains — in 1996, 2006 and 2008 have closed the tunnel completely. RMT has demanded that new trains must be no less safe than current Eurostar trains, which are designed and built by French manufacturer Alstom, which have operated passenger services safely for 16 years. The EU’s European Railway Agency, which was set up to implement EU rules promoting ‘liberalised’ competition in the rail sector, will decide if the ICE trains are cleared for channel tunnel passenger operation. Eurostar’s only rival in a position to benefit from such a relaxation of safety rules is DB, which has lobbied strongly to open the way for commercial competition. RMT organised an international protest for rail safety at the ERA headquarters last April as a part of the European Transport Workers’ Federation day of action for rail safety. In September 2010 Eurostar became an autonomous ‘Euro-company’, Eurostar International Limited (EIL) with a 55 per cent share ownership held by French state railways SNCF. 16 RMT president Alex Gordon exposes how German state railways Deutsche Bahn is exploiting EU liberalisation rules to create a global transport monopoly EMPIRE: Deutsche Bahn transport and logistic activity across Europe