Germany Plans to Privatise National Rail

The German Cabinet has agreed to a partial privatisation of Germany's national railway company.

The government says it could sell off a quarter of Deutsche Bahn shares by the beginning of 2009 and estimates that selling a 25% stake in the German rail company would bring in €3bn ($4.1bn).

Under the proposed deal, Deutsche Bahn will retain control of the track network for the next 15 years.

The plans are pending approval by both houses of the German Parliament.

Deutsche Bahn is Europe's largest rail company, carrying almost 1.9bn passengers and 300 million tons of freight a year.

Earlier this month German train engineers were awarded a 4.5% pay increase, the highest pay rise of the year, after staging strikes across the railway network.

By staff writer