Bahn does not grant passengers a vaccination bonus

Bahn does not grant passengers a vaccination bonus

Bahn boss Richard Lutz has rejected possible special rights for corona vaccinated people. The Deutsche Bahn would not give it, he told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung". The group adheres "to the political guidelines. Nobody will be able to do without a mask for the time being just because they hold up a vaccination card." According to the CEO, the number of passengers on long-distance trains during the corona pandemic fell more sharply than in decades. "In 2019 we still had more than 150 million long-distance passengers than ever before," he said. At the end of 2020, at around 80 million, there were only half as many. Even at the beginning of 2021, the ICE and Intercity trains were only occupied by around 20 percent, Lutz said. For the time being, according to Deutsche Bahn, the situation will remain critical, but will improve at the end of the year. "The next few months will be tough. From April, May the situation will improve with the increasing number of vaccinations and the higher temperatures," said Lutz. "I am confident that we as DB will be back to normal by the end of the year." The financial consequences of the pandemic for the railway are therefore enormous. "We have forecast damage of almost ten billion euros for the railway business for the period up to 2024," said Lutz. "It will hit us hardest in 2020 and 2021. From 2022 we want to return to profitability."