Deutsche Bahn to close freight waggon maintenance facilities
Substantial decline of maintenance works for freight waggons forces Deutsche Bahn to close their facilitities in Eberswalde and Zwickau
The management board of Deutsche Bahn has decided to close the plant in Eberswalde and the expert centre in Zwickau run by DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung GmbH. Operation in Zwickau and in Eberswalde shall be stopped by December 2015 and December 2016, respectively.
About 490 and 80 persons are currently employed in Eberswalde and in Zwickau, respectively. The existing collective agreements mean a broad protection against compulsory redundancies. The aim of the DB is to offer its employees an equivalent job with DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung or any other company in the DB group.
The reason for the closure of the two sites is a significant reduction of maintenance services for freight waggons. The freight market is very cyclical and has been subject to large fluctuations for years. The transport operators responded to this with optimised fleet planning, which resulted in fewer vehicles that must be maintained.
DB has already responded to the performance decline by largely avoiding temporary workers and permanent and temporary transfer of employees to other locations. In addition, employees were also offered individual socially acceptable measures.
DB has also analysed what capacities will be needed for maintenance in future and how this affects the locations of the DB. The only sustainable economic solution for the DB group is to close the sites Eberswalde and Zwickau.
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Quelle: Österreichische Verkehrszeitung
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