Newsletter 2013/08/12 - Expansion and Collapse
BERLIN/DOHA/ABU DHABI/RIYADH (Own report) -
The Deutsche Bahn AG (DB)
railroad company is expanding its business activities with the dictatorships of the Arabian Peninsular.
As the company has announced,in October, it will begin organizing the operation of one of the rail
lines in the United Arab Emirates.
This is done on the basis of a"Strategic Partnership," concluded by the DB with the Emirates'
"Etihad Rail." The DB will help establish a railroad academy in Qatar,for training personnel needed for rail operations.
The DB is also in business in Saudi Arabia, where it is participating in the construction of a high-speed rail line from Mecca to Medina, and was also involved in the construction of an elevated railway line for the
Women's University in Riyadh.
The latter must be driven automatically,because of Saudi gender segregation policy.
Business with these dictatorships at the Gulf helps the DB to reach its announced objective of becoming "the world's leading mobility and logistics
company."
The DB's domestic business, plagued for years by the aggravating consequences of its massive cutbacks, is also subordinated to reaching this objective.
Currently, the fact that the DB is incapable of providing service after 8 pm to one of the important
regional public transportation junctions - the main train station of the Rhineland-Palatinate's regional capital, Mainz - due to a lack of personnel, has provoked protests.
Last year, the DB Corporation achieved an operative income of 2.7 billion Euros.
more
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/58557
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