(Berlin, July 27, 2015) The Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bahn AG has given its consent to the implementation of extensive structural and personnel-related changes with the Group. The Supervisory Committee has given the green light for a six-point package of measures proposed by the CEO and Chairman of the DB Management Board, Dr. Rüdiger Grube. Following an extraordinary meeting of the Committee held in Berlin on Monday, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Prof. Dr. Dr. Utz-Hellmuth Felcht, stated: "This reorientation will ensure that Deutsche Bahn is equipped to face the future. This would not be achievable using the formulas followed in the past." Dr. Grube: "We are taking this action, because intensified competition, increasing regulation and costs rising at an excessively fast rate are making such changes necessary."
The Supervisory Board adopted a resolution to decrease the number of members of the Group Management Board by a quarter from the current eight to six as of August 1, 2015. There has been a corresponding reassignment of responsibilities. The most important changes are:
The Technology and Environment division will be divided up, with one segment, comprising the areas of technology, systems technology as well as safety and quality management, being allocated to infrastructure under the management of Dr. Volker Kefer (who is also to be appointed Vice Chairman of the Management Board), and the areas of procurement and IT (CIO) becoming part of the Finance division. The Passenger Transport division is also set to undergo expansion, forming the new Traffic and Transport Management Board division. Under the management of the former CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of DB Fernverkehr AG, Berthold Huber, DB Schenker Rail will be added to the division, with a view to strengthening the railway operations in Germany.
The growth platforms DB Arriva and DB Schenker Logistics will become part of the Finance and Controlling division in the future, and will thus additionally be headed up by the Chief Financial Officer, Richard Lutz.
The Compliance, Legal and Security departments will be merged with the area of "National and International Relations" within the newly established "Economy, Legal Matters and Regulation" division, which will fall under the responsibility of the newly appointed member of the Management Board and former fully authorized representative, Ronald Pofalla, as of August 1.
A further central aspect of the reorientation measures is the planned dissolution of the tow-tier holding structure. At the regular meeting of the Supervisory Board to be held on December 16 of this year, the Management Board will submit resolutions to the Supervisory Board for approval to determine whether this is to occur by way of merger or by way of a transfer of the operations of DB ML AG to DB AG. Ahead of that date, the Management Board will also be putting forward concepts to the Supervisory Board with regard to, among other things, the future of the internal service providers and the retention of an option permitting third-party shareholdings in the case of DB Arriva and DB Schenker Logistics.
The newly adopted measures will result in savings of € 100 million at Group headquarters, with the intention being that these new measures together with other measures already adopted (€ 610 million) will enable savings of over € 700 million to be made at Group headquarters by 2020. Group headquarters functions will have a guideline focus in the future.
Dr. Karl-Friedrich Rausch, Ulrich Homburg, Gerd Becht and Dr. Heike Hanagarth (in order of their respective terms of office) have resigned from office as members of the Management Board as of July 31, 2015.
"Dr. Karl-Friedrich Rausch's resignation means the loss of a recognized and esteemed personality within the Group. The Supervisory Board would like to express its thanks to Dr. Rausch for his outstanding dedication in carrying out his work as a member of the Management Board of Deutsche Bahn over the past 15 years", stated Prof. Felcht. Dr. Rausch, who holds a doctorate in industrial engineering, joined the Group in 2001 after having worked at Deutsche Lufthansa AG, becoming Chief Technology Officer at DB and heading up the Passenger Transport Management Board division from 2003 until May 2009. Dr. Grube added, "Among other things, he was responsible for the highly successful launch of the German-French high-speed transport operations in cooperation with the SNCF in 2007". Dr. Rausch has headed up the Transport and Logistics division since May 2009, in which capacity he pushed forward the expansion of the global logistics network, among other things, and in mid-2012 also took on the newly created position of Chief Sustainability Officer, with a view to establishing sustainable action even more firmly within DB.
Ulrich Homburg, who holds a degree in civil engineering, joined DB in 2000. From 2003 onwards, he headed up DB Regio AG, taking on responsibility for the entire Passenger Transport division in 2009. Prof. Felcht: "Mr. Homburg was responsible for the successful transition of the DB local transport business line into the liberalized market, managing to retain a market share of approximately 70 percent in spite of continually rising competitive pressure, for which achievement he deserves much thanks and recognition." Dr. Grube: "The acquisition of Arriva in 2010 set the course for success in our foreign passenger transport operations. The successful integration of Arriva is also due to the efforts of Ulrich Homburg." In March, Mr. Homburg introduced the new strategy for long-distance railway transport, which envisages a significant expansion of the service offering and higher passenger numbers over the next 15 years.
Gerd Becht was appointed a member of the Management Board, with responsibility for compliance, data privacy, legal matters and corporate security, in 2009. Prof. Felcht: "Under his management, the trust and confidence of the workforce, which had wavered greatly in the face of the data privacy scandal, could be regained, and today DB, with its highly professional compliance organization, is a standard bearer in the area of data privacy in Germany. We would like to express our thanks to him for this achievement." Dr. Grube added that Mr. Becht had been extremely successful in his enforcement of civil law claims: "By way of example, he and his team succeed in obtaining damages in the amount of hundreds of millions of euros for DB and also the taxpayer in the context of railway and escalator cartel litigation."
DB Group had already announced on July 15 that Dr. Heike Hanagarth will be resigning from office at the end of July as part of the Group restructuring. Prof. Felcht: "Dr. Hanagarth has been the driving force behind a number of important innovations and, among other things, has also reorganized the Procurement department, implementing measures which will continue to bear fruit in the future." Dr. Grube expressed his thanks to Dr. Hanagarth for her productive and close collaboration: "She has contributed towards the success of the Group in the technological, innovation and purchasing contexts."
Finally, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Prof. Felcht, once more thanked all four departing members of the Management Board for their willingness to amicably set their own personal interests aside in order facilitate the comprehensive reorientation of the company.
Dr. Alexander Hedderich, the CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of DB Schenker Rail AG, will be resigning from office and departing from DB Group as of August 31, 2015. Jochen Thewes, formerly the CEO of DB Schenker APAC, who will be heading up the DB Schenker Logistics business unit as of September 1, 2015.