Germany
improvement. Some of the tracks, switches, and signalboxes have been in operation for over 80 years, and have been the cause of occasional hiccups. But we are investing enormous amounts of money in making Berlin’s S-Bahn system more reliable, and we plan to invest another ƒ720m by 2016.” Another thorny issue is the Stuttgart
21 project which resulted in at-times- violent protests over the last few years. Grube is optimistic though that the problems have now been resolved and he is adamant that DB has learned from the experience. “In Stuttgart things have become much calmer,” he says. “This is primarily due to the fact that when a referendum was held on Stuttgart 21, a great majority in Stuttgart and Baden- Württemberg spoke out in support of the project, and now it is being carried out. Preparations are currently underway to begin construction of the low-level station. About 50% of all construction work has now been awarded, including 90% of work building the tunnels. In the future we will get citizens more involved, and involved earlier in planning infrastructure projects. “We need to develop formats which continuously provide people with information and get them involved during the long periods of time from planning to implementation of such projects. This includes information about what is being built, as well as an examination of the areas of potential and risks of such projects - whether this relates to business/transport, urban
The Stuttgart 21 project is finally going ahead despite major opposition.
development or the environment.” DB’s problems in Berlin and Stuttgart and the 2009 spying scandal suggest that DB has some way to go to improve its image both externally and internally. Grube though insists that he wants DB to be both a popular railway and a top employer, and has several initiatives to achieve this.
“As a service provider, satisfied customers are the most important thing to us, and we can only have that when we also have satisfied employees,” he says. “In the management board we decided that in the future, the performance-based portion of our salaries will be 50% dependent on employee and customer satisfaction. Our employees know this and see that
those of us on the management board are dead serious about changing our corporate culture. “Furthermore, we want to
increasingly tailor our human resources policy to the stages of our employees’ lives and careers. Specifically this means improving our employees’ work- life balance and trying to offer personalised, tailored solutions when drawing up shift and work schedules. “When it comes to customer satisfaction, every day we survey 1000 customers in different business units. And the responses have rarely been as positive as they are now. A large part of this is definitively due to the fact that the trains are more punctual. And we are also currently working on radically modernising our entire passenger fleet. In addition to redesigning our ICE 2 trains, we have also begun modernising the IC fleet.”
The Berlin S-Bahn is gradually returning to normal operation following years of disruption.
42
Inevitably achieving these goals are major challenges for DB over the next five years, along with the continuing economic uncertainty in Europe together with social and ecologic issues. Grube says DB’s 2020 sustainable strategy launched in March (IRJ May p16) aims to address them. “With this strategy we will harmonise economic, social and environmental aspects to assure sustainable business success and social acceptance,” Grube explains. “Overall the key takeaway is this: we are moving in the right direction and we are well prepared to meet upcoming challenges. Managers and employees work hard each and every day to ensure we keep moving forward. And even though we may experience setbacks from time to time, you can be sure that DB is 100% “made in Germany” and remains a symbol of quality.” IRJ
IRJ September 2012
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