Deutsche Bahn is resorting to extreme measures to bring the rail system back up to par. Photo / Unsplash
Germany: the land of beer, sausage, and trains that run on time.
Actually, make that the land where 56% of trains run on time.
More precisely (or imprecisely, depending on how much of a rush you are in), the land where 56% of trains arrive within six minutes of the scheduled time - which is the cushion Deutsche Bahn, the national railroad company, allows itself for an “on-time” arrival.
In Germany, punctuality is part of the national ethos.
So to hear Germans talk about it, the recent problems afflicting the country’s train network are nothing short of a national crisis.
Here’s how bad it’s become: Since late April, Switzerland has banned some German trains from travelling beyond the Swiss border city of Basel because delays on the Deutsche Bahn network have been wreaking havoc.
Passengers travelling onward must change at Basel to more trustworthy Swiss trains.
“It is very embarrassing for Germany that this once reliable railway system has now become so run down,” said Detlef Neuss, federal chairman of Pro Bahn, an association that advocates for German rail passengers.
Thirty years of underinvestment have finally caught up with the country’s vaunted train network, Neuss said.
“You get to a certain point where it doesn’t work anymoreand we’re at that point now.”
On July 26, a German high-speed train bound for Hamburg malfunctioned outside Vienna, stranding about 400 passengers in a tunnel without power, light, or air conditioning for more than six hours. Rescue workers eventually evacuated the passengers via emergency exits.
The situation has become so dire that Deutsche Bahn is resorting to extreme measures to bring the rail system back up to par.
Since the weekend, the line connecting Germany’s two largest cities, Berlin and Hamburg - which typically runs 470 trains carrying 30,000 passengers daily - has been shut entirely for nine months for repairs.
Trains are being rerouted on an alternate path that lacks the same high-speed tracks, turning a two-hour trip into three hours and stranding some passengers along the original route who suddenly lack rail access altogether for three-quarters of a year.
The rail company, in a statement, acknowledged the extent of the problems.
“We at DB are anything but satisfied with these punctuality numbers,” a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“Eighty per cent of all delays in long-distance transport are due to old, failure-prone and congested infrastructure. This also includes many malfunctions of our rail facilities. That’s why we are renovating the infrastructure at full speed.”
Early on Monday morning local time, tired and frustrated passengers at the Bonn station in western Germany waited for the 6.23am train to Berlin, which was 14 minutes late because of an earlier delay.
An hour into the journey, an unexpected 100 passengers boarded the train in Wuppertal, after their previous Berlin-bound train malfunctioned and went out of service there.
For commuters like Michael Prieggen, a bank worker from Dusseldorf, the delays have become a regular professional burden. On Monday morning, he planned to travel 45 minutes to Hamm from Wuppertal. But his train never left the station.
After waiting for a replacement, he arrived two hours later than planned. A colleague had to take over the 8am meeting for him.
The situation on Germany’s railways is “difficult”, Prieggen said - then added, less diplomatically, “or disastrous”.
“Punctual trains are the exception now,” he said.
Gerald Vogel, a 72-year-old retiree, was also forced to abandon his train at Wuppertal, where he joined Prieggen on the platform and waited for the next train to Berlin. Vogel, who was travelling to visit his daughter, blamed three decades of underinvestment.
“We all know that when you don’t do anything for the infrastructure, then you just worsen the problems that we effectively have now,” he said. Then, he was interrupted by an announcement on the train’s loudspeaker.
“Due to the extra stop in Hamm … we will arrive in Hanover even later than planned,” the conductor said. “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you right now exactly how long this will be.”
In the early 1990s, about 85% of long-distance trains in Germany arrived on time.
For most of the past year, that figure hovered in the low to mid-60s. In July, just 56% of long-distance trains kept within six minutes of the schedule, according to Deutsche Bahn.
The rail operator is aiming for at least 65% punctuality for long-distance transportation this year, according to the spokesperson, and an on-time rate of 75% to 80% by 2027.
“The reliability of the railway must be significantly improved,” Patrick Schnieder, Germany’s new Transportation Minister, said yesterday on the German news station ZDF, calling the punctuality numbers “unsatisfactory”.
Passengers often make the same point - but using expletives.
Germany’s Finance Ministry allocated a record US$25 billion ($42b) for rail infrastructure in 2025, with about US$10b coming from a special US$577b investment fund for infrastructure and climate projects created this year as part of a historic shift to allow more borrowing by the Government.
The package paves the way for more than US$116b in rail investment through into 2029, and it’s part of a huge boost in infrastructure spending as part of Germany’s commitment as a Nato member to spend 5% of its gross domestic product on defence-related projects.
Neuss said that those funds will help, but that “significantly more investment” in German rail is still needed.
On Monday, cousins Dorethee Lohsa, 21, and Barbara Wilhelm, 23, were travelling from Cologne in the west to Rostock on the Baltic coast to visit Lohsa’s brother.
Also forced to change trains at Wuppertal, they were going to miss their connection in Berlin and faced a potential two-hour addition to their journey.
“The funny thing is, we phoned my cousin, her brother, last night to tell him what time we’d arrive, and he said, ‘Okay, so about two hours after that, then,’” Wilhelm said.
“I’ve had four-hour delays,” Lohsa added. “Or arrived in places at 3 in the morning. You just start to adjust and try not to plan anything for the day you arrive.”