Deutsche Bahn increases the number of trains for Christmas
"Everything that can roll over the holidays will roll for our passengers," promises Deutsche Bahn at Christmas. So far, the Group has not shone with punctuality or reliability. Special trains are to change this at the end of the year - but only 60 of them. More is simply not possible, they say.
Deutsche Bahn is increasing the number of trains on offer during the festive period in order to ease the high volume of travel over Christmas. An additional 60 special trains will be running between December 20 and January 1, as announced by the federally owned company.
They will mainly be deployed on high-demand connections such as Berlin-Göttingen-Frankfurt or Cologne-Munich via Frankfurt and Stuttgart. In the usual timetable, there are around 900 long-distance train journeys per day. "With more space and more trains, we want to enable a relaxed start to the holidays," said Michael Peterson, Head of Long-Distance Transport. "Everything that can run over the holidays will run for our passengers."
The railroad is already experiencing high demand for the entire pre-Christmas week, as Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year. "The current booking figures show that Christmas traffic will start as early as December 18 this year," it says. The Group is also expecting demand to be evenly distributed for the week between the years.
The honorary chairman of the passenger association Pro Bahn, Karl-Peter Naumann, also expects full trains over the holidays despite the additional seats on offer. "It will be particularly busy on Friday," he said on request. However, he emphasized that the railroad would not be able to provide more additional capacity than the 60 special trains. The main bottleneck is staff.
Every second long-distance train late
Deutsche Bahn's results for November were disastrous - at least in terms of punctuality. Long-distance services in particular were more unpunctual than they have been for eight years. Every second long-distance train was late last month.
A train is considered punctual if it is less than six minutes late. Canceled trains are not included in the statistics. It also does not include missed connections. In October, the Group's ICE and IC trains only reached 58.6 percent of their stops without major delays. Deutsche Bahn will clearly miss the punctuality target it has set itself this year.
According to a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson, the main reason for this is the "short-term construction activity", which has increased significantly year-on-year. Around 75 percent of long-distance trains have been slowed down by at least one construction site. Due to the considerable backlog of renovation work, DB has had to significantly increase its construction volume in the current year. This year, an additional two billion euros have been spent, according to the rail company.
Read also:
- Why there is still no EU funding for green Saar steel
- 3 billion Saar Fund is unconstitutional
- Politicians at a loss after shock news
- Court of Auditors criticizes the state government's debt plan
Despite Deutsche Bahn's issue with punctuality and reliability throughout the year, they are introducing 60 special trains for the festive period, running from December 20 to January 1, to help cater to the high volume of travel during Christmas. Surprisingly, these special trains will mainly operate on high-demand connections such as Berlin-Göttingen-Frankfurt and Cologne-Munich, even though the usual timetable consists of around 900 long-distance train journeys per day.
Source: www.ntv.de
