Climate resilience

As an operator of critical infrastructure and as an organization with high land use, we are strongly affected by the current and future impacts of climate change. We are therefore making intensive preparations for increasing extreme weather events and are continuing to develop our climate resilience management strategically and operationally in conjunction with the Federal Ministry for Transport.

By taking a proactive and foresighted approach, we aim to go beyond merely complying with regulatory and legal requirements. With our Group-wide and cross-business unit resilience management, we are also focusing on safer infrastructure, more resilient buildings, more reliable vehicles, and protecting our customers and employees from the consequences of climate change. Among other things, we are bundling the various measures in the climate-resilient rail technology program.

Almost four years on from the devastating floods in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, regional trains have been running continuously on the Eifel line between Gerolstein and Cologne again since June 2025. The reconstruction was characterized by climate-resilient construction. For example, bridges were built without central pillars, and railway embankments, culverts and technical equipment were made more flood-resistant.

Vegetation control on the tracks

Passenger safety is our top priority. At the same time, we want to limit the impact of extreme weather events on our infrastructure as much as possible and increase its resilience. Accordingly, we remove shrubs and trees along our tracks to reduce the risk of branches breaking and trees falling due to storms or heavy snowfall, for example.

When it comes to vegetation control, we rely on the coordinated interplay between different measures. On the one hand, we focus on methods and application strategies in the field of mechanical vegetation management. On the other hand, we also make use of approved herbicides in order to ensure safe rail operations.