The only thing the privatisation originally did was eliminate DB's accountability and allow them to cut costs like infrastructure maintenance. I think the mista

The only thing the privatisation originally did was eliminate DB's accountability and allow them to cut costs like infrastructure maintenance. I think the mistake was to turn a state monopoly into a private monopoly. I'm still not convinced privatising infrastructure like rail passenger transport is better than socialising it and at least on the communal level I'm convinced socialised public transport would be a better approach (i.e. treat trams and roads equivalently). But DB only really cares about their high speed trains, so it's good to see someone try to improve the rest.