A third of the trains are delayed: SBB is so much more punctual than Deutsche Bahn

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Deutsche Bahn (DB) passengers have to wait for their delayed long-distance trains much more often this year than in previous years. Not least because of the many construction sites, the group’s ICE and IC trains reached only 58.6 percent of their stops in October without major delays, the group announced on Friday.

In the neighboring country, a train that is less than six minutes late is considered punctual. Canceled trains are not included in the statistics. No missed connections are shown either.

DB significantly worse than expected

Deutsche Bahn is clearly missing its own punctuality target this year: at the beginning of this year, the group set itself the target of more than 70 percent punctuality in long-distance transport. “With a punctuality of approximately 66 percent in the first ten months, it is clear that the target punctuality of approximately 70 percent for 2023 can no longer be achieved,” said a spokesperson.

That DB has a problem with punctuality, especially in international comparison, has been known for years and is often the subject of malicious jokes. Recently, the problem has worsened significantly, dropping from 75.2 percent in 2021 to 65.2 percent last year.

SBB shows how it works

A look at Switzerland, which has a smaller network but considerably stricter punctuality standards, shows that the DB values ​​from 2020 were also not yet convincing. From January to October 2023, 90.6 percent of SBB long-distance trains were on time – that means in this country: they were less than three minutes late.

An important reason for the poor values ​​in Germany is the dilapidated infrastructure that the train has been running on for years, but which is now literally on the verge of collapse. According to the group, nearly three-quarters of long-distance trains were affected by at least one construction site during their October trip. According to DB, there is at least one disruption every day on the route between Frankfurt and Mannheim, which is especially important for national long-distance traffic.

Source: Blick