Almost exactly 40 years after they began their vocational training as office clerks, the three of them meet on a stormy Wednesday afternoon in the VTG café to look back over four decades of VTG together. Uwe, who actually wanted to study electrical engineering, remembers his first day at VTG well, which began with a rather unusual task: “My first official act was to help unload a truck loaded with toilet rolls,” he recounts with a smile.
Claudia and Andreas also remember their first day at work at VTG well. Claudia remembers the initial distance she felt towards another trainee colleague in the department (“Today we are best friends!”), Andreas remembers being left alone in the office for half the day – after all, the rest of the department had to celebrate a colleague’s anniversary that day.
New challenges
The joint successful completion of their vocational training then marked the start of three very different careers within VTG. Claudia, for example, moved to controlling – an area of responsibility she was initially reluctant to take on, as her new supervisor was considered to be a dyed-in-the-wool “numbers person”. But Claudia rose to the challenge and has remained loyal to the figures to this day as an employee in the Finance department.
“I found the ships very interesting back then. Today, of course, it’s the tank wagons!“
Andreas, in turn, took care of boiler and tank documents for a few years after his training, for example by preparing and sending them for upcoming boiler inspections for the workshop. “After that, I worked in the disposition department of the pressurized gas wagon team,” he says. The same or similar activities accompany him to this day in his work in the Ops Fleet Solutions Energy team.
And Uwe? After initially continuing to work in the commercial field, he finally made the transition from business man to technician in 1990: “I have always had a technical orientation,” he says. In the course of internal restructuring, he was offered a new job in the wagon conversion department and promised it on a handshake, which was “purely technical”. “I first had to find my way in with the help of my colleagues,” says Uwe.
Many personal highlights
Claudia, Uwe and Andreas also look back on many personal highlights. “Besides the countless interpersonal highlights, there were also many business ones,” says Claudia. For her and Andreas, these are primarily the result of the many upheavals within VTG. As one example of many, Claudia mentions the development of VTG into a public limited company and the new tasks that came with it. “Here I had the chance to contribute my own ideas and help shape processes.” For Andreas, it was the purchase of parts of the Brambles Group and its integration into VTG.
3 questions for…
…Claudia Saul: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!”
What has been your biggest professional challenge over the last 4 decades and what have you learned from it?
“The biggest professional challenge was the technical development – from punch cards and account sheets to digitalisation! What I have learned from this is to always be open to new things, to wait and see what will become of them and to simply bring in and express ideas.”
What are you particularly proud of after 40 years (at VTG)?
“That I was able to build up great professional and human contact with my colleagues all over the world at VTG – no matter what position they were in.”
What advice would you give to today’s apprentices (at VTG)?
“Approach things with an open mind and without prejudice!”
…Andreas Neitzel: Open to new things and fun with technology
What does your typical working day at VTG look like today and what is the biggest challenge?
“My typical working day consists of many phone calls and emails with customers and workshops about damaged wagons. In addition, there is the factual invoice checking, the preparation of repair and revision orders, transport orders, the charging of customer damages and much more… The biggest challenge is and remains getting everything under one roof – the daily work, the apprentices and the new colleagues who have to be trained.”
What advice would you give to today’s apprentices (at VTG)?
“Always be open for NEW things – and have fun with the technology of railway wagons!”
40 years at VTG in four words?
“Interesting, exciting, challenging and never boring! 😊”
…Uwe Becker: From business man to technician
Is there anything that still surprises you about working at VTG today?
“Surprised perhaps less, but impressed: Firstly, that we have grown at an unimaginable pace and I no longer know around 30% of the people. Then that we are venturing with vehemence into projects that would previously have been dismissed as “too big” for VTG, e.g. the project planning of entire terminals, digitalisation or the North Star. In this respect, we are more courageous today than in the past.”
What does 40 years of service mean to you personally?
“I feel something like belonging to this company. In fact, I have never thought about changing to another company. 40 years is almost a whole working life and I never felt unfairly treated. Of course, there is also shadow where there is light, e.g. the increasing bureaucratisation of our lives does not stop at VTG – we have been more effective here before – but we have short ways to the management and they have – for me at least – always had an open ear. We also have – and this is confirmed above all by external employees – a culture of mutual support and mutual respect. This is not necessarily a matter of course in other companies. So after 40 years of service, I can say that it was a good decision for me.”
What advice would you give to today’s apprentices (at VTG)? (Especially with regard to your own experience as a trainer?)
“Compared to the past, the opportunities within ones training have become much more extensive: There are many areas and training courses, plus visits to workshops, assignments abroad, a VTG Academy – all these are stations that you should definitely take as a trainee or trainer. You get a wide range of opportunities that are well worth looking at! Nevertheless, I would advise every potential applicant to consider in advance whether he/she will enjoy it and to use the probationary period for this purpose. If yes, by all means take what you can! If not, have the courage to say that it doesn’t meet your expectations and leave.”
For Uwe, on the other hand, the work with the Federal Railway Authority (EBA) was particularly formative. During this time, he represented the interests of the wagon owners vis-à-vis the EBA and says that working with the lawyers was particularly challenging, as they “argued far away from practice”. With the help of the VPI colleagues, however, they created a culture of discussion at eye level, so that the legal foundations were laid there for much of what is common practice today.
Index cards, floppy disks and digitalisation
As different as Claudia’s, Andreas’ and Uwe’s careers are within VTG, it is the many upheavals within the company that link them. “When I started, there were still file drawers for account sheets and typewriters with ink ribbons,” Claudia recounts, and Andreas adds: “Even in the tank wagons, all our knowledge used to be on file cards!”
“If I hadn’t felt so comfortable with change, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been around for 40 years.”
Over time, the changes within VTG became more and more frequent and faster and faster. This did not only concern rapid technical changes, such as the way from the index card to the floppy disk to digitalisation, but also the continuous change of personnel: “Not only the technical change was or is rapid,” says Claudia. “Colleagues also came and went.”
Keeping an eye on the bigger picture
And yet all three agree that one must always perceive change as an opportunity: “I’ve always been given new tasks, I’ve learned new things and thus kept my eyes “on the bigger picture”,” says Claudia and adds: “Only those who keep moving can change direction!”
„So after 40 years of service, I can say that it was a good decision for me.“
At the same time, the three also enjoy passing on their knowledge and experience, for example to young apprentices. Uwe, who has been a trainer at VTG since 1986, advises young people at VTG to be curious, to try out new things and to have the courage to say “no”. Claudia recommends approaching things without prejudice and Andreas adds: “Always be open to NEW things! Then it will never be boring, even after 40 years at VTG.
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