(de-news.net) – With the stated objective of substantially improving service quality across all operational domains, Evelyn Palla, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bahn, has announced an ambitious plan to initiate a comprehensive restructuring of both the company’s corporate architecture and its operational procedures. She conveyed her intention to pursue a fundamental transformation of the organization, indicating that existing practices would be replaced by a markedly different strategic approach aimed at long-term sustainability and customer-centric performance.
As part of this overhaul, Palla outlined the prospect of extensive personnel reductions at the company’s central administrative offices. She emphasized that each position would be subject to a rigorous evaluation based on its demonstrable contribution to customer value. In her view, administrative structures must be recalibrated to serve the needs of railway personnel more effectively, thereby reinforcing the operational core of the enterprise. She further advocated for a decentralization of decision-making authority, proposing that frontline employees—whom she identified as the backbone of the organization and deserving of renewed institutional support — should be empowered to assume greater responsibility in shaping day-to-day operations.
In conjunction with these structural reforms, Palla also announced changes to the executive leadership framework. She expressed a clear commitment to reducing bureaucratic overhead and enhancing the autonomy of those directly engaged in service delivery. According to her vision, future decisions should be made at the level where operational accountability resides, rather than being escalated through multiple layers of management. This shift, she argued, would foster greater efficiency and responsiveness throughout the organization.
Addressing persistent concerns regarding service standards, Palla underscored the need to eliminate unacceptable conditions such as unclean trains, neglected stations, and malfunctioning onboard bistros. She pledged to prioritize improvements in cleanliness and passenger comfort, describing trains and stations as the company’s primary public-facing assets. To this end, she committed to allocating additional resources to enhance the physical environment of railway stations, with the goal of making them more inviting and functional for travelers.
To support more effective travel planning, Palla concluded by proposing the introduction of a digital construction-site notification system. This tool, she noted, would be integrated more seamlessly into the existing DB Navigator platform than previous iterations, thereby enabling passengers to access real-time information and make more informed decisions regarding their journeys.
