Kommentar: Die Deutsche Bahn versucht es mit einer Märchenstunde

Bundesverkehrsminister Steffen Bilger, whose punctual start of his "Summer Journey" this Monday was thwarted by a faulty ICE air conditioning unit, quickly learns to navigate the troubled state-owned railway company, including from its chief executive herself. Simply leave something out, as she did at the end of July during the presentation of the DB's half-year results, and suddenly the world appears much more rosy.

With this clever strategy, Evelyn Palla achieved her most brilliant PR coup to date. Celebrating a profit increase of 0.9 billion euros, she declared it a "significant milestone" in her reform course. Delving into the interim report to page 27, one discovers the true reason behind the surprising profit jump: the "higher support for maintenance services for the railway infrastructure by the federal government (plus 0.9 billion euros)."

The additional state funds, now allowed to flow into maintenance, are now included in the DB Group's "other operating income" and thus have a direct impact on the results. Their amount is almost exactly equal to the celebrated profit jump.