Crisis at DB Cargo: New CEO Plans to Eliminate 6,200 Jobs

The German freight carrier DB Cargo is facing its largest restructuring in years. The newly appointed CEO Bernhard Osburg informed the dpa news agency of the necessity to eliminate 6,200 full-time positions in Germany. This is a radical action aimed at saving the company, which has been generating enormous losses for a long time. The reductions will affect nearly all departments of the enterprise, including administration, planning, production, and sales. The management argues that without these painful cuts, the company's future would be threatened, and the necessity to achieve a profit, the so-called black zero, becomes a priority for 2026. The current strategy is based on four pillars, among which the key one is shifting the focus to the European market. Osburg notes that traditional demand in Germany from the chemical, automotive, and steel industries is systematically declining. In the face of this situation, DB Cargo intends to transform into a leading European rail operator by integrating planning and dispatch processes at the international level. The recovery plan is to be finally confirmed by expert auditors by the end of February 2026, but employees and the supervisory board have already been officially notified of the scale of the upcoming layoffs. Profitability problems at DB Cargo have persisted for a decade, which has repeatedly raised concerns from the European Commission in the context of illegal state aid provided by the Deutsche Bahn group to its deficit-ridden subsidiary. These actions have been met with enormous concern from trade unions and the employees themselves. Critics point out that such deep cuts could weaken the operator's operational capacity at a time when European governments are promoting rail transport as a more environmentally friendly alternative to road transport. However, Bernhard Osburg emphasizes that the cost structure must be adjusted to market realities by 2030 for the company to survive without constant financial infusions from the state. The restructuring plan assumes that ultimately only 8,000 employees will remain in the company. „We are more clearly directing sales, planning, dispatch, and production to the European level and building DB Cargo as a leading European player on the rails.” — Bernhard Osburg Employment Restructuring at DB Cargo: Number of positions in Germany: 14,000 → 7,800; Personnel reduction: 0 → 6,200; Strategy time horizon: short-term → until 2030 Planned Job Reduction: Current employment: 14000, Number of layoffs: 6200, Target employment: 7800 44% — of positions will be eliminated in German structures