Markets and strategy

The contributions made by the Federal Government to the infrastructure financing are particularly important to securing the competitiveness of rail as a mode of transport. A key tool here is the LuFV.

• Economic dimension: By developing infrastructure in line with customer and market requirements, we enable the entire rail transport sector to take advantage of opportunities for growth. Our vision places the focus on customers: “Together with our customers, we make rail the first choice.” This is how we make our contribution to the competitiveness of rail. We will achieve our vision through three key strategic fundamental points:
  • an increase in quality,
  • better control of capacity and
  • a simplification of the customer interface.

Capacity management is a particularly important factor for our network in terms of increasing customer satisfaction. Demand for passenger and, above all, freight transport has significantly increased over recent years, with infrastructure utilization also intensifying significantly. In addition to expansion and new constructions we are concentrating on other factors, such as more efficient use of service suspensions for the purposes of building activities, avoiding overburdening of the available capacities and reducing disruptions that cause unplanned extra burdens on capacity. In the mid to long term, we will particularly use digitalization of the infrastructure to achieve our goals. In addition to the Digital Rail for Germany program, which aims to generate up to 20% more capacity in the infrastructure through the envisaged long term roll-out of ETCS, conversion to digital interlockings and a digital rail operation, we are digitalizing processes, where sensible and necessary, in all of our added value stages. A fundamental part of implement­­ing our vision is also the introduction of lean management in the organization. In the year under review, the first re­­quire­­ments for this have already been met. An example of its successful implementation is the standardization and digitalization of work preparation and performance in maintenance (OPEX Standardization Production System Maintenance project). The groundwork has been laid for a comprehensive rollout beginning January 2019, which, from around the middle of the year, will complement the initiatives already ongoing.

• Social dimension: One of the characteristics of the employee structure of DB Netze Track is its high average age. For this reason, we are currently working on a timely and successful recruitment campaign and the proactive qualification of new and existing employees. The focus here is particularly on digitalization and the interweaving of the digital and analog worlds that results from it – particularly in operating areas. It is very im­portant to us to value the knowledge and skills of our employees in both of these worlds.
• Environmental dimension: In order to reduce specific station energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, DB Netze Track is focusing on effective efficiency measures, concentrating particularly on energy-intensive consumers (switch heaters no. 94, track field lighting and interlockings).