Overview

• DB’s supervisory board confirmed Palla, the current DB Regio head, with a simple majority for a 1 October start despite EVG opposition.
• Palla succeeds Richard Lutz and becomes the first woman to lead the German railway in roughly 190 years.
• Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder’s new strategy lowers the long‑distance punctuality goal to at least 70% by end‑2029 after persistent delays on more than a third of ICE and IC services.
• The plan maintains corridor‑by‑corridor rebuilds of about 40 key routes through 2036 and launches immediate passenger programs for cleaner, safer stations, reliable onboard services and clearer information.
• Schnieder’s nominee to run DB InfraGo, former DB Netz chief Dirk Rompf, still requires a separate InfraGo board vote in the coming weeks, which the EVG says it will try to block.