Deutsche Bahn: Restructuring year 2026
DB CEO Evelyn Palla drives a fresh start for the railway.
7/01/2026 – DB CEO Evelyn Palla is consistently driving forward the company’s restart: three months after the new Chairwoman of the Management Board took office, the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bahn AG welcomed the concept for restructuring the Group. Since 1 January 2026, Palla has introduce a new group structure with fewer divisions, fewer units, and fewer managers. Further phases of the restructuring will follow through to the end of 2026.
The aim of the “Bahn Restart” is a significantly more capable and therefore more customer-friendly DB, where decisions are made close to the business and thus close to customers. In addition, at the beginning of 2026 DB will launch fast-acting immediate programs that will noticeably improve passenger information, cleanliness, and safety. For this alone, DB will invest more than 140 million euros in 2026.
“A better railway needs a determined restart and a radical rethink at all levels. I am very pleased with the support from the Supervisory Board,” said Evelyn Palla when presenting her plans. This means consistent decentralization of tasks and more entrepreneurial action. The initial focus is on becoming leaner, faster, and more customer-oriented. “We are giving DB a new operating model that brings it closer to the business,” Palla said. The path back to reliability will be one of many small steps: “With three immediate programs, we will already ensure a better travel experience in 2026. Our customers will feel that something is changing at the railway.” Modernizing the rail infrastructure and achieving significantly better punctuality will take longer.
With its restart plan, DB is implementing a key part of the federal transport minister Patrick Schnieder’s agenda for satisfied rail customers, which he presented in Berlin on 22 September 2025. The new group structure clarifies responsibilities and streamlines structures and decision-making. From January 2026 the main points are:
• Smaller Management Board: The Board will have only six divisions. The Technology/Digitalization and Infrastructure divisions will be dissolved. By clearly separating the public-interest-oriented DB InfraGO AG from purely competitive businesses, DB will ensure unbundling in line with federal requirements.
• Lean organization: Many functions and departments below Board level will be eliminated. A complete intermediate layer between the Board and the first management level will be removed. The first management level will be reduced from 43 to 22 units.
• Reduced overhead: Staff reductions in group management will continue; target figures will be developed next year. Affected employees will be offered new roles via the internal job market.
• Streamlining in operations: DB Long-Distance and DB Regio will also simplify decision structures; standalone marketing departments will be dissolved.
• New DB InfraGO Board: The number of board members will fall from eight to six; operations and construction will again be combined in one division, with regional responsibility for coordinating works and services.
• Quality as a CEO priority: A new function reporting directly to the CEO will oversee quality. Responsibility for quality and profitability will be embedded directly in line management.
Internal service providers will be more closely aligned with business needs. Immediate programs for passengers: In 2026, DB will launch three programs to quickly improve the travel experience, focusing on comfort on long-distance trains, better customer communication, and greater safety and cleanliness at stations, including mobile cleaning teams and reliable onboard catering and toilets.
Author: Frédéric de Kemmeter
www.mediarail.wordpress.com
