Deutsche Bahn is making progress in terms of punctuality; unlike last year, the company should achieve the goal it has set itself. However, the railway has had to transport significantly fewer passengers for months.
Deutsche Bahn lets its customers wait much less often than last autumn. As in September, 78.8 percent of long-distance trains were on time in October, as a rail spokesman said. This increased the punctuality value for ICE and IC by 5.8 percentage points compared to October 2019. Because of the corona pandemic, only half as many people took long-distance transport as before the crisis.
The train evaluates a stop as punctual if the train arrives less than six minutes after schedule. Last year, the railway just missed its punctuality target. This year it should achieve it: Except in August, it has always been and in some cases well above the targeted average of 78 percent – even before the Corona crisis in January and February. After major problems with delays in the past two years, a return to the better levels seen in 2016 and 2017 is in sight.
However, the federal company will make a billion loss because there are no passengers. The railway did not want to say whether fewer people were getting on in view of the November restrictions on public life. She had announced at the beginning of November that, with the exception of a few trains, the usual schedule would be operated. This helps the passengers to keep their distance from one another on the way.
The FDP in the Bundestag criticized the large offer. "Allowing almost empty ghost trains to drive through the country is not in the interests of passengers or taxpayers," said transport politician Torsten Herbst.
Long-distance trains run an average of 20,000 times across the country in normal months, while Deutsche Bahn's local trains, including the S-Bahn, make 780,000 journeys.
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