Merkel affirms plans to privatize railways

German Chancellor Angela Merkel affirmed on Tuesday plans to privatize railways in Germany despite political wrangling within her grand coalition over whether to sell the system's land and tracks.

"We stand by our intention to list Deutsche Bahn on the stock exchange," Merkel said when speaking to German business leaders, but admitted that there were different opinions on how to do it.

Merkel's remarks came a week after Hartmut Mehdorm, chief of the federal-owned rail company Deutsche Bahn, expressed doubt about whether privatization of the rail system could be realized as he strongly desired.

Mehdorm said last week that Deutsche Bahn might need to find other sources of capital for huge projects.

Infighting between Merkel's Christian Democrats and their Social Democrats (SPD) partners has continued over the matter.

The SPD support all-or-nothing privatization, while some Christian Democrats insist that the stock and operations should be privatized but the 34,000-kilometer tracks should remain state-owned to encourage competition.

Source: Xinhua