Test of patience for passengers: Only slightly more than every second long-distance train was on time in June. According to the railway, the reason for this was the extreme weather. Several regions were affected by flood damage.
Storms and flooding caused a number of delays in German rail traffic last month. As a result, only around 55 percent of long-distance trains were on time, the company said when asked. The railway company spoke of a drop of 15 percentage points compared to the annual punctuality target of around 70 percent. The company did not initially confirm figures from the “Bild” newspaper, according to which punctuality was even lower in June.
“The extreme weather conditions in the first half of June caused a massive drop in punctuality,” it said. There was flood damage in several regions. “On average, over 400 long-distance trains per day were affected by external influences such as landslides, flooding and dam damage.” That was around a third more than during the flood disaster in summer 2021.
The railway plans to publish the exact data on passenger punctuality in the middle of the month. Unlike operational punctuality, this will evaluate the proportion of passengers who reached their destination without major delays. Train cancellations will also be taken into account. A passenger is considered late if there is a delay of 15 minutes or more, and a train is considered late if there is a delay of six minutes or more.
Even without extreme weather, the railway has been struggling with reliability for years. The reason for this is that the infrastructure is outdated and overloaded in many places. Numerous construction sites regularly slow down rail traffic and lead to delays. This is also noticeable during the European Football Championship for the many fans who traveled from abroad.
Source: Stern
