Deutsche Bahn’s punctuality values ??have been below the satisfaction limit for months. But a record number of travelers use the train at Christmas. With success: additional trains and more seats ensure unusual smoothness.
More people than ever have relied on Deutsche Bahn for their Christmas journeys. The group announced that the number of passengers in the booking period from December 22 to 28 would be around 3.2 million. The previous peak was therefore reached in the pre-Corona year 2019 with 2.8 million passengers. In 2021, 1.6 million passengers were counted around Christmas.
In many trains, however, there would have been significantly more space for more passengers: According to the information, the occupancy rate in the ICE and IC trains was 52 percent. The railway uses 80 special trains between December 22nd and 28th. In addition, the number of seats was increased by 13,000 when the timetable changed in mid-December. Overall, rail operations around the holidays were “stable and largely smooth”, it said.
Deutsche Bahn has recently been criticized because in recent months less than 65 percent of long-distance trains have reached their destination without major delays. A train is considered late in the statistics if it arrives with a delay of more than six minutes.
“With more trains, seats and service staff, our transport concept for the holidays has proven its worth,” said Michael Peterson, DB board member responsible for long-distance passenger transport. Peterson had stated in August that they were not satisfied with the punctuality. At the time, Peterson called the situation an impertinence for both travelers and employees. “The punctuality of the long-distance trains at Christmas was well above the previous year’s average,” said a railway spokesman, without becoming more specific.
The ICE 3 Neo has proven particularly effective in Christmas traffic, the railway said. “Since its first journey with passengers on December 5, this new ICE has been in use without any problems.” The group currently has four trains of this type. In the coming year, 14 more are to be added. Overall, Deutsche Bahn will receive an average of three new trains per month in the coming year.
