I believe payments were also made for transporting POWs. In his book The Forgotten Soldier Guy Sajer writes of passing an eastbound train somewhere in Russia during the winter that was loaded with Russian POWs in exposed cars, possibly flatcars. Those still alive had stacked the frozen corpses of their comrades towards the front of the car to serve as a windbreak. I would imagine more than a few bottles of schnapps were required by the crews to help cope with such experiences.
And they knew what was going on in the camps. Here's a statement from a high DR official I found:
At the end of the Second World War, DR personnel propagated about themselves that they where just a transport organisation and knew nothing about the Holocaust.
That might have some truth in the West where to maintain the lie of resettlement to the East, Jews were initially transported in 3rd class passenger cars. However, at some point, I assume those trains stopped and the passengers were moved to box cars for the remainder of the journey.
In general, my understanding of the Reichbahn is that like any railroad, crews would periodically be switched. By the time the trains reached Poland, local crews (Volksdeutsch, auxilliaries, etc.) would man the trains as they passed through the camp gates.
They stated that they where only interested in the movement of trains, “the wheels rolled” and they where not concerned with the contents.
In many cases it may have been that they knew but didn't want to know. Being caught displaying curiosity about train contents could result in the severest of penalties.
In 1944 Dorpmuller visited Auschwitz where he inspected the rail facilities. From here he could have seen the conditions that the prisoners had to suffer. Being head of the organisation, Dorpmuller was asked after the war if he considered himself as an accessory to murder, in his answer he gave a reply that summed up the attitude of the majority of railroaders:
“It was indeed Known to me during my stay at Auschwitz that crimes where being committed in the camp but I could do nothing about them, I want to emphasize that it was my job to ensure that the wheels rolled and not to concern myself with what was transported”
Like most Germans they just looked away and didn't "concern" themselves with what they knew was going on.
True but showing concern could result in the severest of punishments.
I suspect most train crews, particularly engine crews alive during 1942/43 didn't survive the war physically intact. By now, allied fighters on their return trips from escorting bombers are following railroads in large numbers just to see what they might happen to see.
It has to suck being in a Reichsbahn locomotive and seeing a flight of P-38s approaching.
It’s apparent now from the war news that Ike’s plan to target the railway infrastructure in anticipation of Overlord is well under way.