Internal recordings reveal: Deutsche Bahn cuts back on digital strategy

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Deutsche Bahn's "Digital Rail Germany" (DSD) project aims to put rail traffic in Germany back in the fast lane. For years, Deutsche Bahn has been struggling with a dilapidated rail network, outdated signal boxes and unpunctual trains. Under the umbrella of DSD, the rail infrastructure subsidiary DB InfraGO is bringing together its digitalization projects and painting a picture of the future of a modern and digitalized rail network on the project website. Politicians in Berlin have also been willing to invest in the infrastructure and digitization plans in recent years.

However, there has been rumbling within the DSD project for some time, as industry insiders have been reporting for months in an interview with heise online –, including in the interaction between the railroads and the rail industry. Now two sub-projects of the Digital Rail are undergoing major restructuring. heise online has an audio recording of an internal Deutsche Bahn event held on March 20. In it, the previous head of the Digitalization Railway System (DBS) department announced that the sub-division would be dissolved in its current form by 1 August 2025. This news has caused considerable uncertainty among the department's staff. Employees fear that their jobs are at risk and criticize the fact that the Group management has not ruled out compulsory redundancies. Until now, Deutsche Bahn has always publicly emphasized that it wants to avoid such steps – even with the planned medium-term reduction of 30,000 jobs.

When asked by heise onlines, a Deutsche Bahn spokeswoman confirmed significant cuts to the digital strategy, but emphasized that the entire "Digital Rail Germany" project would not be discontinued. Instead, individual parts are currently being reviewed and prioritized. "The Digital Rail division is therefore not being dissolved, but individual developments are being reprioritized and reorganized," the spokesperson said. Deutsche Bahn is endeavoring to "deploy affected employees elsewhere in its own ranks if possible". Talks with the HR department and the works council are to take place this week.

Future projects despite job cuts?

The term "Digital Railway System" (DBS) is used by those involved in the project to describe the systems that are to be rolled out in the second or third stage after the basis – control and safety technology, including signal boxes, signals and level crossings – have been brought up to date.

This includes the introduction of the European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2, digital automatic couplers (DAK) and solutions for partially automated driving (GoA2) and fully automated driving (GoA4). These technologies were previously regarded as the essential next step in the modernization of rail transport, as they allow the existing rail network to be better utilized and personnel to be saved.

The Advanced Digital Infrastructure (ADI) project is on the list for the time being. ADI is intended to replace the current fixed division of the rail network into block sections with flexible control. In simple terms, a block is the section between two signals. If a train enters such a block, no other train may pass this signal. It is only released when an axle counter at the next signal has registered the last axle.

As long as people are driving the trains, the blocks must be large enough to allow sufficient time for reactions. As soon as computers take control and trains are equipped with an equivalent to the adaptive cruise control in cars (moving blocks), the trains can run closer together, creating more capacity on the line. However, this will not happen for the time being: according to the spokesperson, ADI proved to be costly and complicated to migrate during a review. In addition, the benefits would only become apparent "in the further future".

The development of the fully automated, driverless train operation GoA4 is also being restructured. However, Deutsche Bahn does not want to abandon the idea altogether. When asked, the company explained that driverless driving is to be continued in smaller, more easily migratable steps, with the scope and personnel being adjusted.

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What happens to contracts and staff

In response to the warning expressed at the internal event that DB might not be able to fulfill existing contracts due to the restructuring, Deutsche Bahn replied: "We will continue with the major projects and complete them in accordance with the contract. For smaller European development projects, we will negotiate with the project partners in the coming months as to how a qualified termination of the work can be planned."

The statement goes on to say that the focus on "more capacity through technology" will be strengthened. Specifically, this means that the development of the Capacity & Traffic Management System (CTMS), which is intended to optimize rail capacity utilization through artificial intelligence, and the semi-autonomous train operation GoA 2 "will be continued, migrated and used in the Digital Node Stuttgart (Digitaler Knoten Stuttgart, DKS) ". By concentrating on these technologies, Deutsche Bahn hopes to gain additional capacity for immediate use for important digitalization steps and their faster implementation. "We therefore expect the decisions to have a positive effect," said the railroad spokesperson.

The railroad spokesperson added that the "replacement of old interlockings that are prone to failure" is currently the top priority. As part of the "Immediate Interlocking Program", 200 old interlockings are to be replaced by electronic (elektronische Stellwerke, ESTW) or digital (digitale Stellwerke, DSTW) interlockings by 2027. This detail in the statement is crucial, as digital and electronic interlockings are two fundamentally different technologies. ESTWs already use computers and the dispatchers work on screens, but this technology dates back to the 1980s. DSTWs, on the other hand, have been specified for years in the Digital Rail project under the name NeuPro and have been tested in initial test projects. One of the basic ideas that Deutsche Bahn hopes will lead to savings in procurement is the interoperability of components via standardized interfaces and fibre optic cables. An interlocking from one manufacturer should then also interact with the points of another, which is not the case in the world of ESTWs.

Modernization urgently needed

The announced cuts are changing the direction of the DSD project. According to those affected, the Group management appears to be prepared to abandon important future projects and accept contractual obligations and the loss of expert knowledge in the process. It remains to be seen whether the restructuring and reprioritization will bring the hoped-for success for Deutsche Bahn's (no longer so) ambitious digitalization strategy.

It is undisputed that the railroads need to be modernized. The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) has been trying for some time to refute criticism that the federal government and Deutsche Bahn are neglecting the digitalization of the rail network. 2.3 billion euros were made available in the 2024 budget, with further funds to follow in 2025 through an increase in Deutsche Bahn's equity.

Despite reports of delays and technical difficulties in the implementation of ETCS and digital interlockings, the Ministry of Transport emphasizes the need for modernization. A current feasibility study forecasts a financial requirement of eight billion euros from federal funds by 2029, with a total investment volume of 53.9 billion euros by 2070. This is offset by expected economic benefits of 102.5 billion euros.

(vza)