The European Commission has revealed that it is investigating allegations that the German railway group Deutsche Bahn has breached anti-trust rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant market position.
This follows reports in the German press that commission officials had raided DB offices earlier this week.
The commission said unannounced inspections were a preliminary step into suspected anticompetitive practices.
“It has been alleged that Deutsche Bahn group, and in particular Deutsche Bahn Energie, the de facto sole supplier of electricity for traction trains in Germany, would be giving preferential treatment to the group’s rail freight arm. The Commission officials were accompanied by their counterparts from the German competition authority,” it said.
And it emphasised that the fact that the commission had carried out the inspections did not mean that the companies were guilty of anti-competitive behaviour nor does it prejudge the outcome of the investigation itself.
There is no legal deadline to complete inquiries into anticompetitive conduct.
