“Muddling through can and must no longer be an option,” says Transport Minister Wissing, referring to Deutsche Bahn. The FDP politician has concrete measures in mind to help the company get off the ground. At the same time, more needs to be done for security.
Transport Minister Volker Wissing has called on the Deutsche Bahn Board of Management to tackle identified problems consistently and to find permanent solutions. “Muddling through can and must no longer be an option. That’s why we set up a steering group to closely accompany the railways,” said Wissing in an interview with the editorial network Germany.
The FDP politician also complained about failures in politics. In the past, she “didn’t work with enough foresight,” the minister told RND. “Never before has the railway transported as many passengers and goods as it does today. The problem, however, is that the run on the railway was not countered by sufficient modernization of the rail network.”
They tried maintenance under the rolling wheel, “but in the end there was chaos on the construction site.” That will now be changed with a paradigm shift – with a consistent and structured modernization towards a high-performance network.
In connection with Russia’s war against Ukraine, Wissing also sees potential dangers for the railways. “This war has shown that infrastructure is an important target of military strategy and thus also of potential attacks.” When asked whether he expected further attacks after the sabotage against the railway, the liberal explained: “Our infrastructures are the lifelines of our society. That makes them an attractive target from the point of view of potential attackers.”
The infrastructure included not only roads, bridges and rail lines, but also data lines and communication facilities. As to whether Germany is particularly in the focus of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the minister said: “Germany is a modern society and a successful business location. The basis of our success is also a well-developed infrastructure. This is not only the prerequisite for economic success, it also stands for our way of life.”
After the act of sabotage against the railway, he set up a staff unit for infrastructure security with experts from all departments of the ministry and the subordinate authorities, Wissing said. The aim is to better network the departments with their existing security mechanisms and competencies.
In order to avoid domestic conflicts in the future, the Federal Transport Minister wants to reach a new financing consensus between the federal and state governments for public transport. “We have to look at the reason why conflicts keep coming up: public transport is a matter for the federal states and according to the constitution the federal government should contribute an amount from the tax revenue,” said Wissing. “But there is no fixed rate as to how much the federal states and the federal government should pay.”
When asked what division he had in mind, he replied: “We financed many things in half, such as the Germany ticket or the Corona rescue package.” Wissing aims to clarify future cost allocation with the help of the modernization pact and a decision in the transport ministers’ conference: “As part of the expansion and modernization pact, we want to clarify how the costs for public transport will be divided between the federal and state governments in the future,” he said. “We could specify the article in the constitution, for example, through a decision by the federal and state transport ministers’ conference.” A fair and clear division of funds would create a good basis for cooperation between the federal and state governments, he added.
