We are passionate about practice! Numerous colleagues from the EMW Department and the Anhalt Center for Continuing Education (WZA) therefore eagerly took the opportunity to visit the DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung plant in Dessau as part of a technical excursion. The plant tour took place on March 11, 2025.
Roberto Wolff, laboratory engineer for measurement and control technology at the EMW department, describes the expectations of our colleagues:
Our motivation for visiting DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung in Dessau-Roßlau lies in the opportunity to gain practical insights into the processes and techniques involved in maintaining electric locomotives. The current technologies and innovative approaches in maintenance and repair at the Dessau plant are also important for our research and teaching in the Department of EMW. The practical impressions from the Dessau plant will enrich us enormously, as it is very important to us to present our students with tangible examples of the implementation of theoretical concepts in industrial practice. The visit also provides an ideal opportunity for the exchange of specialist knowledge and experience and brings the cooperation between the university and DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung to life.
Our group was welcomed to DB Maintenance by Martin Schönfeld, himself a graduate of the career-integrated Electrical Engineering program at the Department EMW. Mr. Schönfeld led our group and offered the 19 participants exciting insights into the plant. The DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung plant in Dessau with its more than 1,300 employees is Deutsche Bahn's competence center for the maintenance of electric locomotives and also includes the maintenance center for transmissions.
How do the locomotives get to the plant and onto the test bench? Which technologies are used? What services and processes are carried out during the maintenance and overhaul of electric locomotives? The group explored these and many other questions during an almost three-hour tour of the plant. More than 270 locomotives have already passed through the Dessau plant, which operates one of the most modern locomotive testing centers in Europe. In 2025, the plant has once again expanded its capacity for the locomotive stand and traction engine workshop.
Our colleagues, who work in various fields at the EMW Department, were deeply impressed. So says Dr. Arne Goedeke, laboratory and project engineer for technical mechanics:
'As an instructor of technical mechanics specializing in structural mechanics and structural refurbishment, I found it particularly exciting to be able to take a closer look at the supporting structure of trains and especially the bogies. I have already carried out finite element calculations on these structures in the past, but in practice I have only ever worked on streetcars, which are much smaller in size. In addition, it was of course also of general interest to me to get to know the processes of this important company in the region.
In addition to the latest technologies and locomotives, the visit to the training workshop (DB Training) also left a particularly positive impression. Here, trainees themselves took the floor: Marie, a prospective mechatronics technician, and Finn, a second-year industrial mechanics trainee, presented their own workpieces and practical projects with confidence and expertise and explained the processes in the training workshop.
As DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung is also one of our active cooperation companies for the dual study program, there are common points of contact and interests, particularly in the area of training junior staff.
This is also emphasized by Daniela Romba, Careers Service and Dual Studies Officer at WZA:
'As the Career Service|Dual Studies Officer at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, it was important for me to use the company tour at DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung in Dessau to gain valuable practical insights and explore cooperation opportunities for our students. I was particularly interested in the state-of-the-art technology used at the plant and the strict quality standards that are adhered to when maintaining the vehicles. Such experiences enable me to provide our students with comprehensive information about the regional corporate landscape and show them potential entry options after graduation. In the DB Training halls, I found it particularly impressive to see how the trainees are intensively prepared for their examinations by experienced colleagues in various classrooms, where they have the opportunity to try out their practical skills.
We would like to thank Ms Saskia Lange, Mr Martin Schönfeld and the team at the Dessau plant for an excellently organized and interesting plant tour! Our colleagues will take away valuable impressions and suggestions for their everyday work from the excursion.
