German national railway company Deutsche Bahn wants to put its digitalisation on the right track. In early November, the company's digital arm, DB Systel, announced its open source manifesto. With the transition to open source, the logistics company plans to accelerate innovation, increase efficiency, ensure interoperability and build the organisation’s IT capabilities. DB Systelis Deutsche Bahn’s daughter company responsible for the digitalisation of the train giant.

“Deutsche Bahn is committed to the use of open source software and active participation in the community. The manifesto stands for a professional approach to open source that breaks new ground, shares knowledge and always learns from the best practices of other companies,” says Deutsche Bahn CIO/CDO Bernd Rattey.

The manifesto declares Deutsche Bahn’s commitment not only to OSS, but also to “do it right”. The company claims that its strategy is to consider open source solutions when possible, engage with the community, contribute to initiatives, and respect guidelines.

“With open source, we are creating an attractive working environment for IT experts who want to shape the future of mobility and logistics together with us”, comments Nicole Göbel, CEO of DB Systel.

Deutsche Bahn code is distributed to a couple of repositories. Most of the projects date back a few years and mostly use Apache 2.0 licence.

Deutsche Bahn’s policy and ambition are part of a wider open source movement of European railroad companies. Earlier in the year, Deutsche Bahn, along with Swiss SBB CFF FFS, French SNCF, and the International Union of Railways, formed the OpenRail Association. This group's mission is to encourage the development and use of open source software in the rail sector.

Featured photo by Christian Lue