"Devastating Record": Union Demands Resignation of DB Cargo CEO Nikutta

The Railway and Transport Union (EVG) is demanding the dismissal of the head of DB Cargo: only if Sigrid Nikutta vacates her position will the freight division of Deutsche Bahn (DB) have a future.

In a letter to the new Bahn CEO Evelyn Palla and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Werner Gatzer, demands Cosima Ingenschay Nikutta's resignation. Ingenschay is the deputy chairwoman of the EVG and a member of the supervisory boards of DB and DB Cargo.

"Nikutta's record is devastating – over 3.1 billion euros in losses since she took office speak for themselves," writes Ingenschay. "What she calls 'transformation' is in reality a headless liquidation." Instead of taking care of the company, Nikutta stages herself on social media. "Her energy flows into headlines – not into solutions."

No blast furnace, no steel mill, no car factory runs without DB Cargo

DB Cargo is "the backbone of the German economy," without which "no blast furnace, no steel mill, no car factory" runs, the EVG warns, referring to the economic importance of DB Cargo.

Nikutta has been the head of DB Cargo since the beginning of 2020. She was supposed to make the DB freight division, which had been making losses for years, profitable again. Previously, she had shown at the helm of Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) that she could do it.

According to the EVG, not much remains of that hopeful start. There is "disillusionment and stagnation" at DB Cargo. "Instead of growth, there was regression, instead of improvements, chaos, instead of a future strategy, a policy of shrinking and dismemberment," criticizes the EVG.

For example, DB Cargo sold a large number of wagons to competitors, thereby achieving a one-time positive result. However, the company now rents the wagons from the new owners.

Cost savings through job cuts

In addition, DB Cargo is reducing costs through job cuts. For example, a company workshop is to be closed. The consequences of the measures are "dramatic," says the EVG: "declining quality, poor punctuality, growing uncertainty."

This also affects morale: in a survey by the railway works council this year, 42 percent of employees rated the future of DB Cargo as "very negative," reports the news magazine Der Spiegel. In 2021, only 8 percent held this view.

When asked for personal assessments, employees reported that they had the impression of "complete lack of direction amidst absolute chaos" or of being on a sinking ship or of the "feeling that they want to drive DB Cargo into a wall."

For the EVG, it is clear: the head of DB Cargo "has lost trust"; only a personnel and strategic new beginning can save the company. "DB Cargo can only have a future if Ms. Nikutta no longer has a future there," summarizes Ingenschay.

(wpl)