Delays and infrastructure problems have reached such a point that Deutsche Bahn seems to have given up on maintaining punctuality.
“according to the report, these times are no longer calculated, but only estimated”, .
There are so many problems at the German state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn that the company seems to have given up on testifying that train traffic in the country runs in an orderly manner, according to a report published by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. According to everyday life, planning train trips in the country becomes more and more why to bet on the lottery.
“Timetables are no longer calculated, but only estimated,” a member of the company’s Administrative Opinion told the newspaper. According to him, this is a gigantic problem that leads to the loss of control over train schedules. He says that while the safety of the trains will not be affected, the result is “catastrophic”.
Within this framework, passengers, therefore, can no longer hold the responsibility that trains will run as planned, with timetables becoming less and less reliable, after decades of maintenance problems in the rail network.
New low-speed sections continue to be added on an unprecedented scale, says the company official. This is so that defects in the rails, bridges or electrical parts do not result in accidents.
Delays on one in three trains
Statistics recently released by Deutsche Bahn reveal that long-distance trains were more punctual in July than in the terrible month of July. Even so, the punctuality rate was only 62%, that is, more than one in three long-distance trains (the ICE and IC models) were delayed by at least six minutes – the limit from which trains are classified as late.
In June, when floods and severe storms brought down punctuality rates for good, the rate of delays was 53%. Trains that have been completely cancelled are not included in the company’s statistics – a figure that has often happened on Deutsche Bahn trains.
Deutsche Bahn started to put more and more reserve trains for when regular trains were delayed so long that they would result in the cancellation of the next journey. The problem is that the spare trains are usually old models, says the Süddeutsche Zeitung report. According to the newspaper, the costs of use and the expenses with employees are particularly high, which means that this should become impractical in the long term.
Antiquated infrastructure
Deutsche Bahn’s biggest problem, however, is the numerous works underway on an overloaded and outdated rail network, which leads to significant delays.
The company, however, has changed its construction management and wants to carry out the work in predetermined time periods in the near future. In this way, the state-owned company wants to halve the additional changes in the timetable as of mid-2026.
“Germany has the most antiquated signal box system in Europe,” said Philipp Nagl, CEO of DB Infrago, the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary that operates the rail network and train stations. The Süddeutsche Zeitung also mentions statements by employees about outdated equipment, such as old control panels that have to be reinforced with adhesive tapes so as not to fall apart.
“In recent decades, very little has been renewed; very little has been invested in renovation,” Nagl stressed. Deutsche Bahn, however, plans to spend 16 billion euros on modernizing the rail network later this year. Nagl notes that, as a result, 2024 will be the first year in which it should be possible to contain the aging of infrastructure and reverse this trend.