Ban on Huawei expensive for German rail operator: der Spiegel

BERLIN, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- According to an internal company document obtained by the German news service Spiegel, it would cost the state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn up to 400 million euros (441 million U.S. dollars) if it had to replace all components supplied by Huawei in its infrastructure.

In December 2022, Deutsche Bahn decided to award large parts of the expansion of its digital infrastructure to a Telekom subsidiary that uses Huawei components. According to Spiegel, if replaced in the short term, Deutsche Bahn projects would face "a delay of 5-6 years." Almost 800 base stations for so-called train radio would have to be replaced in northern Germany alone. The network ensures communication between train crews and the control center.

Deutsche Bahn has been using Chinese components there since 2015. The consequences would also be severe for the Group's internal IT infrastructure, and large parts of the core network would be affected.