The S-Bahn trains in the greater Munich area will once again become less punctual in 2023. Around every tenth train was delayed by at least six minutes. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Transport to a request from Green MP Matthias Gastel, which was received by the German Press Agency. Accordingly, the punctuality rate of the Munich S-Bahn was 89.5 percent in 2023, a deterioration of 5.3 points since 2020 and three points below the nationwide average of all S-Bahn trains operated by Deutsche Bahn.
However, a train is still considered punctual if it is 5 minutes and 59 seconds late. It is only considered late from the sixth minute onwards – although connections for commuters are far from secure even before that. The S-Bahn in Munich is significantly less punctual than the trains in Hamburg, Berlin and Central Germany, which each achieved punctuality rates between 95.6 and 96.6. Only the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn trains were even more unpunctual at 85.2 percent.
With the exception of the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn, punctuality on all trains worsened compared to the previous year. “The S-Bahn trains are increasingly running behind their own timetables. The causes often have to do with disruptions to the infrastructure and insufficient capacity in overloaded rail nodes,” explained Gastel. In the long term, higher investments are now needed in a more efficient and less fault-prone infrastructure.