A new and overhauled OEBB – Austrian Railways Company – striving to new heights

Austrian Railways Company OEBB and its new management has all the prerequisites to turn the ailing company into an economically viable transport company.
Under Mr. Christian Kern we observe a new style of management, which is able to combine leadership with modern technologies of the 21 st century.The ability to govern a company such as OEBB and turn it into profitability is accompanied by a long way of thorns that were created over a period of more than five decades of mismanagement.
Mr. Kern is on the right track, his skills must be consistent with a finely balanced line moving between traditional hardliners and future visionaries.
So far, his biggest move was to reduce fares to make rail travel more attractive to a wider populace and thus create more consumer demand.
So far rail travel has been a ineffective cost affair for consumers and company, widely disregarded as an economic form of transport.
It did not make sense in the past : Trains were running with 20-30 % occupancy, with fares unattractive to the public. If occupancy increases by half price reductions will be offset to a large extent.
More measures are needed, and certainly more redundancy is required to cope with explosive overheads and higher personal costs. In practical terms a conductor will have to function dually, and thus his skills must be adopted.
The stereotypical care free attitude of railway employees who were considered as indispensable will need to be converted into a more sober, market oriented form of outlook.
In the past, OEBB railways employees were allowed to retire with 50 years. This phenomena was one of the worst stigmas of inefficiency with the railways company and has been banned for good.

Old habits ostensibly die hard and the same applies with OEBB. The old management was unable to make any visible changes. They thought a change of cars and locomotives would suffice to promote a new image to the public. Corruption accusations, mismanagement from lower to higher ranks were common in the past. It reminded one of the former, ineffective operations of a K.u.k. style train service, the imperial rail company rather than a 21st century service.

Critically damaged reputation is another main factor that needs to be remedied, a new team has been on a  campaign to improve the overall image of the struggling company.

Mr. Kern certainly displays leadership qualities absent with previous OEBB leaders.
Much needs to be done.We have confidence that Mr. Kern can and will deliver.

OEBB survey

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