Security at DB Group

DB Group spends € 200 million annually on the security of its customers and employees, plus investments in structural facilities and security technology. As part of a law enforcement partnership, Federal police officers and DB Group’s own security personnel work together, with technical support, to combat crime and disruptive activity and increase the security of our customers and employees. The Group-wide Safe travelµ259 program brings together measures that notably increase security for employees and customers. An increased presence of security personnel on selected long-distance and local lines increases the sense of security and deters offenders. On DB Long-Distance in particular, significantly more security services were engaged than in previous years. For the first time, these additional services were available not only for special events such as transport for soccer fans, but also in regular operations on peak travel days as well as to enforce mandatory mask wearing and to check vaccination, test and recovery status in line with the regulations in force in the various Federal states. On local transport, we tested the use of additional security personnel on selected routes, providing security services above and beyond those stipulated in the transport contracts. By analyzing these additional deployments, we have produced a solid data basis for defining security service requirements in future transport contracts.

We have involved stakeholder groups in designing new security measures and commissioning new deployment concepts. The stakeholder groups expressed a high degree of support for the measures that were defined and implemented. The common goal is to protect our employees and customers.

Particular attention and consideration was given to the special circumstances of the pandemic. In particular, security personnel and train personnel were given special preparation for the extraordinary challenges. Separately, there were further investments in the equipment of security personnel and in technical structures for location-based scheduling. In terms of technical operating resources, bodycams are making an outstanding contribution to security and offer protection from attacks. The cameras are now being used at 15 major stations in nine metropolitan areas and in special deployments in specific situations. New findings were obtained in 2021 when they were used for the first time by train personnel on the Westfrankenbahn. Initial evaluations serve to confirm the previous observations: employees with bodycams are significantly less likely to be attacked. This creates the conditions for the use of bodycams to increase the safety of rail personnel. The relevant concepts are currently being coordinated with stakeholder groups and authorities. The number of participants in training sessions has increased further, to about 20,000 customer-facing employees. Despite restrictions due to Covid-19, de-escalation and self-defense training took place under strict hygiene protocols. Training was intensified for DB Security employees, who are exposed to an increased potential for conflict in their day-to-day work.