Group security

Security on trains and in stations

The Federal Government and DB Group are further expanding the use of video technology. Every major station in Germany will be equipped with modern video technology by the end of 2024. This means the number of video cameras operated by the Federal police and DB Group at railway stations will increase to about 11,000. The live images from the cameras are used by employees of DB Group for scheduling, traffic control and traffic monitoring, and for exercising property rights. However, only the Federal police has access to the recordings produced by the cameras in the stations.

DB Group’s regional transport fleet is now equipped with more than 50,000 video cameras. This means that 80% of the vehicles are equipped with video recording, at the request of the contracting organizations in regional rail passenger transport. Video technology is an important complement to the presence of our personnel, which remains a vital component of our security arrangements. The technology provides the full benefits when combined with rapid intervention by emergency forces.

Increased presence and more personnel to protect the infrastructure 

DB Group considers the released ministerial draft bill of the German Critical Infrastructure Act (Kritische-Infrastruktu­ren-Dachgesetz; KRITIS) an important contribution to strength­ening the resilience of Germany’s critical infrastructures. The entry into force of the law requires major efforts for operators of complex infrastructures, such as DB Group. In order to adequately fulfill these impending duties, DB Group is setting up a preliminary project. In recent years, the security organization of DB Group has been working closely with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (Bundes­ministerium des Innern und für Heimat; BMI) and the BMDV to develop strategies to protect the infrastructure, establish protection concepts, and create channels for reporting and alerting. The targeted installation of redundancies, increasing technical security for outdoor facilities and, as a first step, 500 additional security personnel, partially highly specialized, for greater protection of the rail infrastructure are in implementation.

European Football Championship in Germany

In preparation for the UEFA European Football Championship (EURO 24), DB Group worked with UEFA, the Federal police and other partners to develop appropriate security concepts. The claim to deliver a sustainable sporting event was based, among other things, on the safe arrival and departure by train of both hundreds of thousands of fans and also of the teams from their accommodations to the stadiums. Extended and additional long-distance trains with up to 10,000 additional seats per day, hundreds of additional regional transport and S-Bahn (metro) trains at the cities of the matches, 51 European Championship matches and hundreds of thousands of additional passengers per day traveling to the stadiums and fan zones placed significant demand on DB Group’s security organization. DB Security increased security staff for trains and stations by about 20% for the UEFA EURO 24 period. The intensive preparation and the measures implemented in cooperation with partners proved effective.

Prevention work provides information about and protects against accidents

There are currently 24 preventive experts in six regions. In the first half-year of 2024, the six prevention teams across Germany facilitated more than 220 prevention deployments. The prevention teams are deployed at stations, railway crossings and also freight yards if, for example, unauthorized track crossings increase. Here as well as in schools and youth organizations, they raise awareness about the risks at railway facilities and give children and young people information about measures for safe railway travel. In close cooperation with the prevention staff of the Federal police, the prevention experts of DB Group work on local prevention projects and in nationwide campaigns.

Focus on security for employees

The security organization is working closely with the interest groups and the security authorities at all levels in order to bolster the security of DB employees. This commitment is further underlined by DB Group joining the BMDV’s #mehr­Achtung initiative in June 2024, which aims to generate more respect for employees.

At DB Regional, we have had positive experiences from the bodycam test phases in Baden-Württemberg and in the Northeast and Bavaria regions. Employees who continued to wear a bodycam beyond the pilot phase until today have experienced very few physical assaults to date. Verbal attacks have also strongly declined.

Not only do the bodycams provide reliable evidence in the event of an attack (within the narrow confines of data protection regulations), but employees also particularly highlight their experience that the clearly visible devices have a de-escalating and deterrent effect.

Security is the highest priority, which is why DB Regional is currently working to identify further lines where body­cams could be deployed for its train conductors in regional transport.

Technical support for greater security and more civil discourse 

The IT platform CSP (Corporate Security Platform), the purpose of which is capturing security-relevant incidents, will provide a more comprehensive and Group-wide overview in the future. Now that reports and incidents involving almost all employees who interact with customers are incorporated into the CSP via business-unit-specific reporting and alerting systems, any DB Group employee will be able from fall 2024 onwards to record incidents and observations with a security-related element at any time and anywhere via the specially developed app.

DB Group advocates for industry-wide security standards for trains and railway stations in both politics and within contracting organizations. These should be binding right from the tenders for transport contracts. Only in this way can long-standing demands for a greater presence of personnel in buses and trains be realized. DB Group considers this a decisive factor in making it easier for people to switch to public transport and thus contribute to the transition to sustainable mobility.