Deutsche Bahn is again planning around 25,000 new hires this year. "We need tens of thousands of new colleagues to meet the challenges at Deutsche Bahn," said Group HR Director Martin Seiler on Friday. In the operational area in particular, investments will therefore be made in new employees "at a record level" this year. In view of the "enormous shortage of skilled workers and the historically tight labor market", this goal is "really challenging".

The railways are also affected by the lack of staff and a high level of sick leave, which passengers in regional traffic in particular feel. Delays and train cancellations have increased in the past few weeks and months at all rail transport companies.

According to Deutsche Bahn, around 28,000 new employees were hired last year. The bottom line is that the number of employees grew by around 5,000 because thousands of employees left the company in the same period, for example to retire.