 He completed his secondary school education in post-war West Germany in 1953.Dürr was chairman of the board of AEG from 1980 to 1990, and from 1991 he served as executive board chairman of Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Reichsbahn, Germany's state-owned railways.When these enterprises were combined and privatized in 1994, Dürr became the first chairman of the board of the new Deutsche Bahn AG, a position he held until 1997.