Billions in losses for Deutsche Bahn, partly due to strikes

German rail unions regularly stopped work last year to reinforce demands for higher wages. This year too, there have been regular strikes on the German railways, causing major disruptions to train traffic.

Furthermore, Deutsche Bahn had to deal with higher interest costs. The company has significant debts to pay for investments in rail renewal. This involves billions. Train delays are increasingly common due to problems with outdated infrastructure. In order to be financially stronger, Deutsche Bahn sold its foreign subsidiary Arriva for billions of euros last year.

Turnover fell by 13 percent to 45.2 billion euros because of lost income due to the strikes. The company also noticed the lower freight rates at the logistics subsidiary DB Schenker. Deutsche Bahn is in the process of selling that business unit.

The railway company did see an increase in passenger numbers, despite the strikes. Last year, approximately 1.8 billion travelers were transported, an increase of almost 6 percent.