No bonuses for executives at Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail service

Top executives at Germany's state-owned railway Deutsche Bahn and its subsidiaries will not receive bonuses for 2023 because of government energy subsidies, the company said on Friday, reported dpa.

The company received more than €50 million ($54 million) from the government to offset high electricity prices in 2023, said Martin Burkert, deputy chairman of Deutsche Bahn's supervisory board and the leader of the EVG railroad workers' labour union.

The bonuses agreed for 2022 remain in place.

According to the annual report, Deutsche Bahn chief executive Richard Lutz was entitled to a bonus of more than €1.26 million for 2022, while chief infrastructure officer Berthold Huber will get €699,000.

For Deutsche Bahn's HR director Martin Seiler, who has been locked in contentious collective bargaining talks with train drivers, the 2022 bonus was €736,000.

Burkert said similar bonuses would have been paid in 2023 if they had not been cancelled.

But future executive bonuses at Deutsche Bahn will be smaller because of a change in how the payments are calculated, Burkert said. The labour leader said that bonuses for achieving long-term targets will now be paid out only every four years.

The general targets include punctuality, quality and the operating result of the railroad. Individual targets will also be set for each board member.

For example, Deutsche Bahn's head of long-distance transport, Michael Peterson, will have to ensure that trains hit a punctuality target and that on-board amenities like air conditioning and toilets are in good working order in order to earn his bonus, Burkert said.