Markets and strategy

We are facing a period of significant change. The mobility market will continue to grow and change. Digital solutions are significantly accelerating this development. New forms of mobility are emerging and car transport is increasingly being questioned. Social structures are also changing:

• the population continues to age;
• cities are growing and pushing their infrastructure to its limits;
• rural areas are shrinking but still require access to mobility.

We have further developed our strategy in key areas. The basis for implementing the strategy is restructuring the orga­nization. All structures and processes are aimed at the needs of passengers and visitors and feed into the Strong Rail strategy

• More robust: We are continuously improving the tangible fundamental quality of our stations and of the station environment for our customers. We consistently ensure that standardized production concepts are applied through­-
  out Germany, optimize our maintenance measures and rely on digitalized status- and demand-oriented solutions. We are investing in new construction projects and developing future-oriented capacity concepts to ensure our infrastructure is robust and secure in order to help achieve the desired modal shift and support the corresponding increase in passenger numbers.
• More powerful: As part of the lean excellence transformation, we intend to establish a lean-thinking and lean-acting organization. By cultivating the lean mindset among all employees, we are creating the basis for excellent value generation and continuous improvement of processes. Our processes begin with customers and their requirements, and we develop solutions to increase customer satisfaction. With the creation of our performance processes, we ensure that our actions are aligned with the needs of our customers and systematically collect their feedback. We implement consistent, end-to-end responsibility for all our processes. In doing so, we focus on the effect on the end customers. The introduction of comprehensive performance management for all organizational units creates transparency about relevant key figures and enables clear control along our customer-oriented processes. This also includes the ongoing standardization and digitalization of core processes to increase efficiency.
• More modern: We wish to improve the quality of our guests’ stays at our stations. We intend to integrate stations even more comprehensively and effectively into people’s everyday lives and make their stays attractive by providing relevant offers. Comfortable waiting areas, a welcoming forecourt, redesigned concourse buildings and improved service help make passengers and visitors feel more at home at the station. We are optimizing our passenger information system and further developing our guidance systems so that passengers and guests from the neighborhood can find their way around as quickly as possible. We are further expanding Wi-Fi access at stations and are focusing on new concepts and digital services, such as the DB Rad+ app and Zugvogel Auto­mats. Through the Smart City Initiative, we are mak­­­ing stations and their surroundings more attractive. We are developing innovative usage concepts for stations, re­­­thinking station neighborhoods and ensuring interlinked, sustainable mobility. This includes new everyday services such as smart lockers, options for remote working at stations, attractive forecourt design including sharing spaces for onward travel, and micro hubs for city logistics.
• Greener: In order to improve our environmental footprint, we are continuously increasing our energy efficiency through energy-saving renovations and replacing lights with LEDs. We continue to promote the use of renewable energies, including the use of eco-power at many of our stations. We are also testing a sustainable construction approach for small stations at the Zorneding site. Through the BALIN research project, we are also research­ing the possible effects of nocturnal sta­­tion lighting on insects.