AUSTRIA: Federal Minister for Innovation, Mobility & Infrastructure Peter Hanke has tasked Austrian Federal Railways with developing a restructuring plan to make the national railway more agile, efficient and future-proof. It should also be able to respond more effectively to market developments and changes in demand.
Hanke stressed that the initiative would not involve job cuts, but will focus on reforming the corporate structure and strengthening customer orientation.
The current structure comprises ÖBB Holding and its main entities ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG (passenger transport), Rail Cargo Group (freight) and ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG (infrastructure).
The supervisory board and executive management are to develop a long-term reform concept extending to 2040, designed to clarify responsibilities and streamline governance across the group.
ÖBB CEO Andreas Matthä said ‘we expressly welcome the ministry’s decision to initiate a reform process for the ÖBB structure and thereby expand the company’s entrepreneurial scope’.
He believed that ‘ÖBB faces major challenges. Demand for public transport continues to grow, as does competition. At the same time, we must be able to adapt more quickly to technological change — particularly digitalisation. To achieve this, we need framework conditions that make us more agile. We must be able to respond faster to market developments, which may also require amendments to the Federal Railway Act.’
He said ÖBB would ‘develop a comprehensive concept to serve as the basis for the restructuring process. Our aim is to launch the reform at the beginning of 2027.’
