The railway sector in Germany has undergone changes in recent years as a result of railway reform. The state-owned enterprise Deutsche Bundesbahn was transformed into Deutsche Bahn AG and later restructured into a holding company with subsidiaries. This led to a reorganisation of public passenger transport and the formal opening up of the network to independent transport operators, with the aim of fostering competition on the railways. A number of measures are required to support – or indeed to enable – the development of the railway sector towards effective competition.