Germany’s Minister for Transport Volker Wissing has said that Deutsche Bahn trains should be more punctual by Christmas 2024, when services are set to start running again on an integral route.
After a third of long-distance trains were delayed in 2023, Volker Wissing’s announcement will be music to the ears of Deutsche Bahn travellers.
The minister hopes that plans to re-open a key line between Frankfurt and Mannheim on December 14 will improve punctuality records across the country, which have been dwindling for over a decade.
According to Deutsche Bahn, one in every seven long-distance trains should travel along the so-called Riedbahn between Frankfurt and Mannheim, and its closure is responsible for at least one disruption each day.
While Wissing reassured that the Riedbahn track re-opening will have a “positive impact on the entire network”, much of Germany’s track network is in desperate need of repair and around high-traffic 40 routes are yet to be closed off for urgent renovations.
In June 2023, Deutsche Bahn announced a major project to renovate 1.800 stations and stretches of track, but funding was partially scrapped during the German government budget crisis of late last year. To fill the funding gap, Deutsche Bahn is set to sell off Schenker, a logistics and freight transport subsidiary of the international company, by the end of 2024.
A recent report into the condition of Germany’s train network found that the outdated system is worse than networks in neighbouring countries. According to current figures, just 64 percent of Deutsche Bahn trains arrive on time, with the company hoping to increase this to 80 percent by 2030.
Back in 1994, the year that Deutsche Bahn was first privatised, over 90 percent of long-distance trains arrived on time.
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