Due to the storm “Poly” and the ongoing high level of construction activity on the overloaded rail network of Deutsche Bahn, passengers again had to put up with numerous delays in July. Only around 64.1 percent of long-distance trains were on the move in the past month without any major delays, as the state-owned group announced on Friday.
That was a slight improvement compared to June (63.5 percent) and also compared to July of the previous year (59.9 percent). However, Deutsche Bahn is still well away from its own punctuality target. Railway boss Richard Lutz recently reaffirmed that this year at least 70 percent of long-distance trains should arrive at their destination without major delays. A train is considered punctual if it arrives at its destination with a delay of no more than six minutes.
In addition to the regular, numerous construction sites in the network, there are currently hundreds more: After the train accident in Garmisch-Partenkirchen last year, the railway is currently replacing hundreds of thousands of concrete sleepers. According to an expert report, material defects in these components were the main cause of the accident in June 2022 with several deaths and numerous injuries.
It is not foreseeable that reliability on the rails will soon improve for passengers. Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing does not expect the first improvements until towards the end of next year, after the general renovation of the Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim – one of the busiest routes in Germany. However, passenger associations assume that the problems on the rails will last much longer. The main reason for this is the poor condition of the network and insufficient capacity.
