Deutsche Bahn to cut 14,000 jobs

German national rail provider Deutsche Bahn plans to lay off some 14,000 employees in the next five years, daily Der Tagesspiegel reported on Monday.

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As many as 4,000 jobs will be cut from the company by 2011 as part of a new savings programme dubbed “React,” according to the paper.

While a member of the supervisory board said the figure of 14,000 jobs was relatively in few in view of the company’s 237,000 employees worldwide, transport union Transnet sharply criticised the move, saying the company would be weakened and unable to keep up with increased business as the economy improves.

Transnet is particularly distressed by plans to cut rail freight service positions. Transnet vice president Wolfgang Zell said the layoffs were a “confession of failure for management,” adding that Deutsche Bahn was using the financial crisis as an excuse to “increase profits by trimming.”

But Deutsche Bahn’s Schenker Rail logistics group, which covers much of the company's cargo traffic, rejected Transnet’s criticism.

“A clear cutting across the board will not happen in the rail freight service sector,” Schenker official Alexander Hedderich said, but he added that the company would need to react to a reduction in transport volume.

Deutsche Bahn refused to speak with Der Tagesspiegel about the report.