Italian, female and a trained driver: three elements that make Evelyn Palla’s appointment as CEO and president of Deutsche Bahn a unique event. She was chosen on 23 September 2025 by the supervisory board and will officially succeed Richard Lutz on 1 October, after the German government decided to cut short his term due to end in 2027. The decision, passed with 12 votes in favour and eight against, met resistance from the Evg rail union, which has been critical of management changes at DB InfraGO.
Born in Bolzano in 1973, Palla has gained extensive management experience in both the energy and rail sectors. After early roles at Siemens and Infineon, she worked for E.ON in Germany and Italy. In 2011 she moved to Austrian Railways (ÖBB), joining the management board of its passenger division. She arrived at Deutsche Bahn in 2019 as chief financial officer of DB Fernverkehr before taking over DB Regio in 2022. There, she turned around a loss-making business into a profitable unit, reporting an operating profit of €103 million in the first half of 2025 compared to losses the year before.
She now faces deep structural challenges. Germany’s rail network requires extensive work after decades of underinvestment. Transport minister Patrick Schnieder has described the situation as “dramatic”, warning of its impact on public trust in the state. Punctuality on long-distance services has dropped from 78.5% in 2017 to 62.5% in 2024, with a 63.4% rate in the first half of 2025. Regional services fare better, approaching 90%. Financially, Deutsche Bahn reported a €760 million loss in the first half of 2025, with debt approaching €22 billion. The company has not posted a profit for years and requires a sweeping restructuring.
Schnieder’s recovery plan, branded “Agenda for satisfied customers on the rails”, aims for gradual improvement. Short-term measures, including better security and cleanliness on trains and in stations, are due to start in 2026, while punctuality targets have been scaled back to a minimum of 70% by 2029. At the core is the Generalsanierung programme, which foresees a complete overhaul of more than 40 high-traffic corridors by 2036, involving temporary line closures for full reconstruction.
On the organisational side, top management will be streamlined with fewer board members at DB and its subsidiary InfraGO. Palla’s appointment has, however, been met with political and union criticism: Evg has opposed the return of Dirk Rompf to InfraGO, while the Greens and SPD have dismissed the government’s strategy as lacking ambition. Palla brings both managerial and operational expertise: she holds licences to drive trains as well as buses. Her task will be to steer Deutsche Bahn through a long-term transformation, one with implications for the wider European rail network, in a company with over 230,000 employees and revenues above €26 billion.
