Deutsche Bahn is not satisfied with two subsequently amended passages. The corporation has called on ZDF to extensively revise additional parts of the documentary "Am Puls mit Dunja Hayali - Unsere Bahn: geliebt, verflucht - gefährlich?" or remove it from the internet entirely. According to the corporation, the documentary "conveys a false impression" to viewers. "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reports this, as the company's letter is available to them.
The conflict was triggered by a cease-and-desist letter that arrived at the Mainz-based broadcaster on the very day of its linear broadcast on July 21. The report contains "demonstrably false factual claims" and conceals "essential exculpatory facts in various places", it states. This resulted in a "distorted overall picture" of the company.
Improvements in Two Areas
ZDF subsequently made improvements on two points and clearly marked the changes in the media library. The documentary initially stated that the railway did not have a single digital signal box. In fact, there are three, plus according to the company "more than 20 additional signal boxes in real operation that use various elements of digital signal box technology".
The second point of criticism concerns a comparison with Belgium. According to the railway's account, the punctuality rate of 92 percent mentioned there refers to all train services and thus predominantly to local transport. For Germany, however, ZDF only cited long-distance transport at 60.1 percent, but not regional transport at 88.7 percent. For all passenger transport, the railway is nearly level at 88 percent. In the current version, with regard to Belgium, the reference is therefore no longer to long-distance transport, but to passenger transport.
Deliberate Concealment?
According to Deutsche Bahn, however, these corrections do not solve the problem. The "known exculpatory facts" available to the editorial team, such as the renewal of numerous signal boxes as well as a binding rollout plan for digital train control across the entire rail network, were "almost completely concealed".
The railway also sees itself misrepresented regarding the Burgrain accident. In June 2022, a regional train derailed there due to defective concrete sleepers; five people died and numerous others were injured. The company claims to have drawn "far-reaching consequences" from this and explained this to ZDF upon request before the broadcast.
ZDF Won't Delete Documentary
ZDF counters: Author Sebastian Bellwinkel specifically inquired with the railway about the number of digital signal boxes and was referred to a statistic in which none were recorded. Regarding the contested text passages, it is "not apparent which facts essential in the overall context of the reporting were deliberately concealed". No defamatory conclusions were drawn, and the film even highlights progress in many places.
Regarding the quantification of digital signal boxes as 0, the broadcaster issued a cease-and-desist declaration, but expressly "in the spirit of accommodation" and "without recognition of a legal obligation and without prejudice to the factual and legal situation". ZDF evaluates the remaining claims as an "inadmissible attempt to completely suppress critical reporting". The currently accessible version has "no substantive deficiencies", the broadcaster sees "no reason" for further adjustments, and deletion from the media library is out of the question.
