Due to the Corona crisis, fewer and fewer people are using Deutsche Bahn. Nevertheless, the company wants to stick to the timetable so that entire regions are not cut off from the route network. For technical reasons, Deutsche Bahn cannot allow individual trains to come to a complete standstill.
Despite a significant decrease in passengers in the Corona crisis, Deutsche Bahn wants to stick to its long-distance timetable. If network routes were reduced, entire regions and cities such as Halle, Saarbrücken or Aachen would lose the connection to long-distance traffic, quoted the "Bild" newspaper from an internal balance sheet of the group.
According to "BamS", the railway cannot afford a complete standstill of individual trains: the high-speed trains are designed for continuous operation and must be continuously supplied with electricity and full air conditioning. Even after a few days without the ventilation system fully operating, the interior would become soaked, the drinking water pipes would become contaminated and the air conditioning and cooling systems would become fungal.
According to the report, Deutsche Bahn transported over 42 percent fewer people from January to the end of October than in the same period last year. The number in the ten months fell to 72 million.
The group has reduced the number of seats available in long-distance transport, for example by shortening trains and fewer international connections, to currently 85 percent. According to "Bild am Sonntag", the occupancy is currently between 20 and 25 percent. This means that the demand for rail travel is around three times as high as during the first lockdown in spring.
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