Chaos at Deutsche Bahn (DB) is reportedly worse than previously thought, with millions of schedule changes and a board member describing a loss of control.
Frankfurt/Main – Deutsche Bahn is currently making headlines for all the wrong reasons: financial losses, a tarnished image, delays, and train cancellations. The widespread unpunctuality is mainly due to the deteriorating infrastructure, which is currently under renovation. According to DB, there are 18 major construction sites this year, including the routes from Frankfurt to Mannheim and Hamburg to Berlin. One of these sites, the Cologne-Frankfurt route, has already been completed.
Deutsche Bahn can only estimate schedules: Two to three million changes this year
Improvement is not expected anytime soon, even though DB reported a 9.1 percentage point increase in operational punctuality in long-distance traffic in July, reaching 62%. While this means that about one in three trains is still late, the improvement was largely due to repairs in July following severe flood damage to tracks caused by extreme weather in June. However, 62% is the second-worst figure in DB’s statistics this year.
But the chaos at DB appears to be even greater than anticipated. As reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), DB has made between two and three million schedule changes this year alone. “Schedules are no longer calculated, only estimated,” the paper quoted a DB supervisory board member as saying. This is a “huge problem” and has led to a “loss of control” over the schedules. Although the safety of rail operations is not at risk, the consequences are “catastrophic.”
Deutsche Bahn’s schedules now just empty promises
Passengers can no longer rely on trains running as announced. Schedules increasingly prove to be empty promises because the rail network has been neglected for decades. More and more slow-speed zones are being established to prevent accidents caused by defects in tracks, switches, or bridges.
In response to the unpunctuality, DB is reportedly keeping more trains in reserve, including many older models. These are deployed when scheduled trains arrive so late at their destination that the next trip is canceled. However, reserve trains and personnel are expensive and unsustainable in the long term.
This year, DB plans to invest around €16 billion in the renovation and modernization of the rail network, with €15 billion planned for next year. According to internal forecasts, it could take up to two years for repairs to lead to noticeable improvements. However, a service provider quoted in the SZ report believes that ten years might not be enough to bring the rail network up to standard.
