Germany’s Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder has removed Richard Lutz from his position as Chief Executive of Deutsche Bahn, according to sources within the company cited by the “Tagesspiegel” newspaper.
Lutz has been a member of the Deutsche Bahn board since 2010 and has led the company since his appointment by the then Federal Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt in 2017. He is expected to remain in the role until a successor is identified.
The move follows the presentation of a mixed first-half financial report by Deutsche Bahn two weeks ago. The company reported losses of €760 million in the first six months of the year. While passenger numbers increased by nearly four percent to 41.9 billion passenger kilometers, punctuality for long-distance trains only saw a marginal improvement to 63.4 percent.
The train drivers’ union EVG had called for Lutz’s replacement given these figures, while the railway workers’ union refrained from publicly supporting Lutz’s continued tenure.
