Dirty and delayed: Survey reveals what travellers think about Deutsche Bahn

A new survey carried out on behalf of the German Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has boiled down passengers’ opinions about the current state of Deutsche Bahn services.

80 percent of passengers want more reliable DB trains

80 percent of Deutsche Bahn passengers would prefer that the company’s existing trains ran on time rather than for routes and services to be expanded, according to a new survey.

Between September and November 2024, the Institute for Applied Social Sciences (infas), working on behalf of the Bundesnetzagentur, asked 2.000 people who had used Deutsche Bahn in the past three months for their opinion on the rail company’s services. “Punctuality lies at the centre of the criticism,” the Bundesnetzagentur said in a press release.

According to the company’s own figures, just 62,5 percent of ICE and IC long-distance trains arrived at their destination on time in 2024. A Deutsche Bahn long-distance train is considered “on time” when it arrives at its destination no more than six minutes after the scheduled arrival time.

Deutsche Bahn is planning to expand and renovate stations and significant stretches of its network in the coming years. These renovations are necessary to renovate degraded track stretches that cause or worsen delays. However, passenger respondents also complained about building sites and replacement bus services provided during renovation periods.

Passengers say toilet availability and cleanliness should be improved

Alongside prioritising punctuality, passengers see cleanliness as a problem. 53 percent of respondents said that toilet availability and cleanliness should be improved in train stations, while 34 percent said stations were dirty.

Most major train stations in Germany have a toilet, which is relatively clean. Many of these toilets are run, not by Deutsche Bahn, but by the privately owned “rail & fresh WC” and cost between 30 cents and one euro to visit.

Staying on the station experience, 30 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the quality of travel updates given in station loudspeaker announcements. 12 percent said that they were disappointed with travel information issued via apps, such as DB Navigator or Regio Guide.