German rail group's board appoints Evelyn Palla as new CEO

E.ON SE

23/09/2025 10:38

FRANKFURT, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The supervisory board of Deutsche Bahn DBN.UL on Tuesday voted to appoint Evelyn Palla as the German state-owned rail operator's CEO, tasking a company insider with the turnaround of a company dogged by under-investment and delayed train services.

Palla is currently head of the group's commuter and short-distance train unit DB Regio and will take the helm on October 1, Deutsche Bahn said in a statement.

Palla, who is to become Deutsche Bahn's first female CEO, joined the group in 2019, having previously worked for chipmaker Infineon IFXGn.DE, energy group E.ON EONGn.DE and Austrian railway operator OeBB.

Last month, Germany's transport ministry said that Deutsche Bahn's current CEO Richard Lutz would leave the company after a difficult tenure.

 (Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Christian Kraemer, Editing by Friederike Heine)

 ((ludwig.burger@thomsonreuters.com;))