Delays and cancellations: Only two thirds of the trains are on time | EUROtoday

The punctuality of German long-distance trains fell additional final 12 months: solely round two thirds of the trains reached their vacation spot on time in 2023. The railway justifies this with quite a few building websites.

More than one in three long-distance trains operated by Deutsche Bahn (DB) had been unpunctual final 12 months. As the corporate introduced in the present day, 36 % of stops had been reached with a delay of greater than 5:59 minutes. This signifies that the punctuality charge in long-distance transport fell to 64 % final 12 months after 65.2 % in 2022. The group had already cashed in on the preliminary punctuality goal of greater than 70 % for long-distance transport just a few months in the past.

Punctuality was considerably higher in regional transport: 91.0 % of the trains arrived at their vacation spot lower than six minutes late and due to this fact on time in accordance with the railway’s definition. In 2020, 95.6 % of stops in regional site visitors and 81.8 % in long-distance site visitors had been reached on time.

Route closures for General renovation

Deutsche Bahn justifies the poor punctuality charge primarily with the various building websites. “Around 75 percent of long-distance trains were slowed down as they traveled through at least one construction site at the end of the year,” the DB stated. The rail infrastructure in Germany is taken into account dilapidated, many routes are in pressing want of renovation and are due to this fact vulnerable to failure.

Starting this 12 months, quite a few routes will probably be regularly renovated. By 2030, the railway needs to show dozens of routes into high-performance corridors by way of so-called common renovation. During a common renovation, the respective route is often utterly closed for months – this might imply additional disruptions for passengers.

The most punctual day was New Year’s Eve

According to Deutsche Bahn, the least punctual day of the 12 months was December twenty second – in the midst of Christmas site visitors, storm Zoltan disrupted site visitors in Germany as a complete and thus additionally rail site visitors. According to the corporate, the railway’s punctuality charge for long-distance transport that day was 35.6 %. The railway achieved its greatest outcomes on New Year’s Eve: 84.2 % of long-distance prepare stops had been reached on time on December thirty first.