San Francisco Frontiers - Punctuality at Germany's crisis-hit railway slumps

About 52 percent of all intercity trains were on time, Deutsche Bahn (DB) confirmed to AFP, after the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper first reported the figures.

That was down from almost 67 percent on-time arrivals in the same month last year and barely above the record-low 51.5 percent rate recorded for October.

January is usually a good month for punctuality owing to a relative lack of maintenance and building work on the tracks.

A Deutsche Bahn spokesman told AFP that a January cold snap in northern Germany contributed to the high rate of delays.

"Major regional disruptions can disrupt train rotations and the deployment of our employees all throughout Germany," he said.

Long derided at home, DB made headlines abroad during European Football Championships in 2024 after fans and even players arrived at destinations hours later than planned.

Almost 40 percent of long-distance services arrived late last year -- not including trains that were cancelled, which are not counted in punctuality statistics.

Critics blame years of under-investment for the poor state of Germany's rail network, once a source of national pride.

Railway spending per head rose almost 70 percent last year as the previous government pushed to renew the network, according to passenger lobby group Pro Rail Alliance.

However, neighbours like Austria and Switzerland still spent roughly twice as much.

DB's new chief Evelyn Palla promised a "new start" upon taking the reins in September but warned that renewing the railways would be "a marathon, not a sprint" because of the extensive work needed to rebuild the system.

P.Thomas--SFF