2024-09-07 14:10:15
“Proven technology” from 30 years ago?
Deutsche Bahn denies report about “alarming” plans
Updated on 06.09.2024 – 11:10Reading time: 3 min.
Modern digital technology – or “tried and tested” technology from 30 years ago? According to SWR research, Deutsche Bahn has now opted for the latter. Deutsche Bahn, however, denies the report.
Deutsche Bahn has flatly rejected a media report that it wants to stop the digitization of train routes for cost reasons. The SWR report “is wrong,” the company announced on Friday. “What is true is that Deutsche Bahn is sticking to the digitization of railway routes.”
Deutsche Bahn (DB) stressed that the digitization of the Stuttgart rail hub is currently the largest rail digitization project in Europe. “The current tendering process for the standard equipment of digital signal boxes also shows that DB is driving digitization forward.”
On Friday morning, SWR reported that Deutsche Bahn was planning to significantly reduce the expansion of digital signal box technology and digital rail infrastructure. This was revealed by internal plans that were reportedly available to SWR. Insiders, including the transport ministers of the states of Baden-Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein, confirmed the existence of these plans. Instead of the originally planned digital signal boxes, outdated and dilapidated signal boxes are now to be replaced by conventional electronic technology – the “proven technology of the 1990s,” SWR quoted an insider as saying.
In addition to the signal boxes, the expansion of the European Train Control System (ETCS), which is considered an essential component for the modernization of the railway, is also affected by the cuts. The planned dismantling of this system could have far-reaching consequences. Experts warn that without the new technologies, the railway could remain less efficient and punctual. The original intention was to use digital signal boxes and ETCS to enable more train traffic and increase punctuality.
The planned savings are to affect railway lines throughout Germany, especially in regions that are not yet digitalized. The question is whether investments worth billions, such as in the new S21 Stuttgart-Ulm line and the Stuttgart rail hub, are still justified. After all, these projects in particular were initiated under the auspices of digitalization.
On Thursday, Deutsche Bahn assured that the digitization of the rail network would continue, but left open whether this would happen within the originally planned timeframe. “In the coming years, we will gradually convert our routes and junctions from the existing national train control systems to ETCS,” a railway spokesman told SWR.
Negotiations with the Federal Ministry of Transport on financing the digitization projects, especially the Stuttgart Digital Hub, continued. A senior railway employee who wished to remain anonymous, however, stated: “That’s it for the digitization of the railway in Germany.”
According to a railway insider, a key reason for the adjustment of the plans is the railway’s financial situation. Fewer funds will be invested in digitization in order to have more money available for the urgently needed renovation of the rail network. DB InfraGO, which is responsible for modernizing the infrastructure, has determined that digital interlocking technology is too expensive and that the expansion would tie up too many staff.
The railway’s plans have met with clear rejection from transport politicians. The transport minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Claus Ruhe Madsen (CDU), criticized that this decision sends a “wrong signal” for the future viability of the rail network. Winfried Hermann (Greens), transport minister of Baden-Württemberg, was also alarmed and stressed that the abandonment of digitalization would further endanger the reliability and punctuality of the railway. He called the plans “alarming”.
The new plans could particularly affect the Stuttgart Digital Rail Hub, which is considered a pioneering project for the digitization of the entire rail network in Germany. The project is closely linked to the major Stuttgart 21 project, in which the new ETCS technology is already being used on the new Stuttgart-Ulm line. The delays in the implementation of ETCS could significantly reduce the importance of the Stuttgart Digital Hub.
Railway expert Hans Leister sees a problem in this: “Stuttgart would then be a digital island project in the middle of Germany, while everything around it is modernized with technology from the 1990s.”
According to SWR information, the reorientation of the digitalization strategy has already had personnel consequences within Deutsche Bahn. Several employees have left the “Digital Rail Germany” project. The Deutsche Bahn’s board representative for digitalization, Volker Hentschel, is also set to vacate his post in February 2025.