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Rail chaos 2025: A third of long-distance trains arrive late!
Rottweil, June 30, 2025: Unpunctuality in Deutsche Bahn's long-distance transport remains a central issue, despite stable customer satisfaction.
Rail chaos 2025: A third of long-distance trains arrive late!
In the first half of 2025, the German long-distance railway appears in a mixed light. More than a third of Deutsche Bahn (DB) long-distance trains do not reach their destinations on time. The railway boss Richard Lutz estimated the punctuality of the ICE, Intercity and Eurocity trains at almost 64 percent. This is definitely a problem, because trains are only considered punctual if they arrive a maximum of five minutes and 59 seconds late. From six minutes onwards the delay is official.
But not everything is gloomy: in the first quarter of 2025, punctuality was 66.3 percent, which was better than in the previous year and was within the target range of 65 to 70 percent. However, in the second quarter we experienced a setback due to system disruptions and unplanned construction sites, as Schwarzwälder Bote reports. Lutz emphasized that 80 percent of punctuality problems can be traced back to the outdated and fault-prone infrastructure.
The numbers in detail
A look at the statistics shows how acute the problem is: operational punctuality in DB long-distance transport is currently only 62 percent. In comparison, traveler punctuality, which also takes connections and cancellations into account, is slightly better at 68 percent, but still falls short of expectations. This is shown by Deutsche Bahn in its figures. In regional transport, however, DB scores with 90.9 percent punctuality, showing that there is another way.
- Betriebliche Pünktlichkeit: DB Fernverkehr: 62,0%
- Reisendenpünktlichkeit: DB Fernverkehr: 68,0%
- Betriebliche Pünktlichkeit: DB Regionalverkehr: 89,9%
Despite the poor punctuality, there is positive news regarding customer satisfaction. This remains stable and the demand for rail travel has increased compared to the previous year, as Deutsche Bahn states. The school grade for customer satisfaction in long-distance transport is 2.7 – not ideal, but not catastrophic either. Factors such as punctuality, capacity utilization and comfort are particularly important here.
Another point that is causing excitement: the abolition of family reservations. While many parents are critical of this change, Lutz defends the move for economic reasons and calls the growing abuse of the offer. However, children up to 14 years of age are still allowed to travel free of charge when accompanied by their parents.
Where the German railways are heading in long-distance transport remains exciting. One thing is clear: DB faces the challenge of both modernizing the infrastructure and increasing customer satisfaction. It remains to be seen whether the specified goals will be achieved.