There\u2019s a new book out in Germany \u2013\u00a0Machtgebiete\u00a0(Spheres of Power). Fifty top female executives describe how, despite climbing the greasy pole, they\u2019ve confronted with bias, barriers and mansplaining.\u00a0Kathrin Anselm, now at Airbnb, recalls a board meeting with a dozen men where a senior partner purred: \u201cAh, Frau Anselm, I can\u2019t focus on the meeting \u2013 your legs are far too distracting.\u201d The CEO said nothing. Anselm quit soon after.<\/p>\n
When reading this, I was reminded of a woman telling me about applying for a senior job at the state-owned railway Deutsche Bahn (DB) about 15 years ago. The reply: \u201cBut you have three children, there\u2019s no way you can possibly do this job.\u201d She didn\u2019t get it. She\u2019s since proved them spectacularly wrong in other top positions.<\/p>\n
Today, the Bahn board now has three women out of seven. One of them, Evelyn Palla, is about to be crowned the new CEO \u2013 or, as the tabloids put it, \u201cQueen of Chaos Central.\u201d Born in Bolzano, she\u2019s Italian. Hardly shocking: trains in\u00a0bella Italia\u00a0are more punctual than German ones.<\/p>\n
Anyone who came for the Euros last year will have sampled the joys of German rail: cancellations, delays, overheated compartments, freezing compartments, overcrowded compartments, shaky wifi, and the dreaded bistro announcement: \u201cSorry, no hot water, kaputt\u201d. Yes, I\u2019ve endured the same in the UK, but still.<\/p>\n
Predictably, Palla\u2019s appointment raised eyebrows. It is held against her that she lives in Vienna (where she sat on the board of Austria\u2019s railways, \u00d6BB). She reportedly wasn\u2019t even first choice \u2013 others turned it down. Small wonder. DB Tower in Berlin\u2019s Potsdamer Platz is notorious as a nest of schemers. The task is Herculean: renovate the creaking network while keeping trains running. There is money \u2013 \u20ac107bn to 2029 \u2013 but passengers won\u2019t tolerate endless standstills. And DB has a spectacular knack for failing at the balance between punctuality and modernisation.<\/p>\n
This week, minister of transport Patrick Schnieder (CDU) unveiled the new \u201cstrategy for satisfied customers\u201d: making 70% of trains punctual by 2029. Aim low, folks. But anything else apparently is completely unrealistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the first time in history, at the beginning of July less than 40% of long-distance trains were on time for three consecutive days. In the 1990s, punctuality was at 85%. Before the Bahn redefined \u201con time\u201d as \u201cless than six minutes late\u201d.<\/p>\n
The official culprit is \u201cdilapidated infrastructure.\u201d True, 41 routes need full renovation by 2030. But, according to the ministry, only 18% of delays are down to that. Half stem from an overloaded network. Rail traffic has soared over three decades, while the network has shrunk. With no buffers left, even a cyclist needing two minutes longer to board can cause a nationwide domino effect.<\/p>\n
Congestion is made worse because, unlike France or Japan, where high-speed trains run on their own tracks, Germany mixes fast inter-city services, local stoppers and freight on the same rails. Cost-cutting in the 2000s removed passing loops and switches, when DB was being prepped for privatisation \u2013 a plan ditched in the 2008 financial crisis. The same applies to the ETCS \u2013 the European Train Control System. It digitally registers travelling trains and calculates braking distances. This could increase capacity by up to 20%. But only the inter-city fleet is equipped with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So why Palla? Results. As head of DB Regio, the 52-year-old mother of three stood out by generating \u20ac103m in profit in the first half of 2025, following a significant loss in 2024. It is the only profitable Bahn branch and not as notoriously delayed as the rest of the network. Company insiders describe her as \u201ccool,\u201d \u201canalytical,\u201d and \u201cdistant\u201d. She has no issue with making \u201cclear, even tough decisions.\u201d Which is exactly what DB needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last few weeks have been paralysing,\u201d one manager told me. \u201cEveryone just watching each other, suspicious and cautious, as they knew a change at the top was coming.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The size and structure of the board, widely blamed for DB\u2019s woes, will now be under review. But next to passengers and the Bahn hierarchy, Palla must tactfully placate the huge range of stakeholders: the Bahn union EVG, freight chiefs, state premiers, municipal officers, regional transport ministers, and of course the federal government.<\/p>\n
But if staff shortages threaten to cancel a service, at least she can literally drive the train herself. Palla got her licence last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a new book out in Germany \u2013\u00a0Machtgebiete\u00a0(Spheres of Power). Fifty top female executives describe how, despite climbing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824,1263,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-446986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-transport","12":"tag-travel"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115256155727695387","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}