DB AG is the parent company of DB Group. It has been a stock corporation under German law since it was founded in 1994 and accordingly has a dual management and control structure comprising a Management Board and a Super­visory Board. It is wholly owned by the Federal Republic of Germany. The changes in the composition of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board are presented in the Super­visory Board report.

DB Group is a leading provider in the mobility and logistics sector. DB Group primarily consists of the Integrated Rail System and the two major international subsidiaries DB Schenker and DB Arriva. Our national and international services give us leading market positions in our relevant markets. With a length of about 33,000 km, we operate Europe’s longest rail network. We are also one of the largest energy suppliers in Germany.

• The Integrated Rail System includes our passenger transport activities in Germany, our rail freight transport activities, the operating service units, and the rail infrastructure companies (RICs).
• Strategically relevant subsidiaries are managed as financial investments. In 2023, we signed an agreement on the sale of DB Arriva. A sale of DB Schenker is being prepared with an open outcome.

DB Group, with its head office in Berlin, employs about 292,000 people (excluding DB Arriva). DB AG operates all business units as an operating management holding company and supports the business units through various central group functions (including legal, corporate development, balance sheets, taxes and insurance, as well as finance and treasury) plus administrativ service units. In addition, operational service units as legally independent subsidiaries of DB AG primarily provide services for internal customers. These include DB Systel GmbH, DB Sicherheit GmbH, DB Services GmbH and DB Kommunikationstechnik GmbH.

With its Strong Rail strategy, DB Group focuses on the business operations of the Integrated Rail System. Our fundamental concern is the shift in the mode of transport towards rail. To this end, we rely on integrated operation of transport and rail infrastructure, the economically and environmentally intelligent linkage of all modes of transport, as well as cooperation in German and European networks. As a prerequisite for the further shift in the mode of transport towards rail, the highest priority is to increase operating quality with a view to increasing capacity.

To achieve these objectives, we have re-established the infrastructure segment and merged the infrastructure compan­ies DB Netz AG and DB Station&Service AG within DB Group into a new, common good-oriented infrastructure unit DB InfraGO. DB InfraGO AG remains part of DB Group.

DB Group train operating companies (TOCs) are legally independent companies with separate balance sheets and statements of income, and thus fulfill all unbundling requirements under European and national law. There is also a functional unbundling, which guarantees the independence of decisions by DB Netz AG (now DB InfraGO AG) in relation to infrastructure access and fees. Reliability and stability form the basis of a high-quality infrastructure. The key cornerstone of profitable business is the sustainable financing of infrastructure. The Performance and Financing Agreement (Leistungs- und Finanzierungsvereinbarung; LuFV) contributes significantly to ensuring the maintenance of the existing network. The LuFV will be further developed into the InfraGO service agreement (LV InfraGO).