The railway is struggling with problems with punctuality – travelers on ICE and Intercity also feel this every day. But how common are really big delays?
Delays are always a nuisance for train travelers – but particularly long delays of more than an hour were rare on long-distance trains last year. Significant delays of 60 minutes or more occurred in 2.4 percent of stops. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Transport to a request from the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag. The ministry, in turn, refers to information from Deutsche Bahn.
More than a quarter of all trains are late
Delays of 15 minutes or more occurred in 18.3 percent of stops and 30 minutes or more in 8.6 percent of stops. In 2023, there were an average of 823 trips per day with 7,372 arrival stops in the federally owned group’s entire long-distance transport with ICE and Intercity.
The arrival times at all train stations are taken into account in the statistics on operational punctuality. Every stop that is reached less than 5:59 minutes late is included in the statistics as being on time. Last year, 64 percent of long-distance train stops were reached on time, as the railway had already announced. The ministry announced that the company has set a punctuality target of 71.5 percent for long-distance transport this year.
Only a few trips were canceled without replacement
Last year, 2.7 percent of the planned trips were canceled completely and without replacement along the entire route – taking into account all internal and external influencing factors such as strikes. In principle, once trains with passengers have started, they do not turn back, the federal government explained in its response. If the planned route cannot be continued due to a closure, there will be diversions. If that doesn’t work either, end the journey at a station on the way. Then alternative travel options would be sought.
In the event of train cancellations or delays of more than an hour, Deutsche Bahn passengers are entitled to compensation. The company reimburses 25 percent of the fare for delays of more than one hour and half of the fare for delays of more than two hours. The compensation is either paid out or in the form of a voucher.