- Regional railways in Bavaria mostly clean and customer-friendly
The quality of service and cleanliness of regional trains in Bavaria has deteriorated as passenger numbers have increased. On a scale of -100 to +100 points, the regional trains evaluated by the Bavarian Railway Authority (BEG) averaged 33 points, which is 14 points lower than the previous year.
However, 27 out of the 32 networks in Bavaria met the BEG's minimum service quality expectations and received corresponding bonus payments from the Free State. Five networks failed to do so and had to pay fines.
Clear winner with 100 out of 100 possible points
The clear winner is the DB-Regio network Kahlgrund: With 100 out of 100 possible points, it continues to lead the table. The network Ammersee-Altmühltal of the Bayerische Regiobahn came in second with 75 points, followed by the network Kissinger Stern of the Erfurter Bahn with 66 points. The DB-Regio network Hohenlohe-Franken-Untermain improved to fourth place with 64 points.
The Alex-Nord network of the Länderbahn is the bottom of the table: It once again took the last place in the annual ranking with -16 points. The DB-Regio Diesel network Allgäu Los 2 and the networks Neigetechnik Thüringen (DB Regio), Donau-Isar-Express (DB Regio), and Regio Oberbayern (DB Regio) also fell short of the minimum requirements.
Transport Minister overall satisfied
Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) praised the fact that "the overall service quality is at a relatively high level. However, there is still room for improvement in many areas."
The BEG plans, finances, and oversees the regional and S-Bahn traffic in Bavaria on behalf of the Bavarian Transport Ministry. It also checks the cleanliness of vehicles, passenger information, the functionality of equipment, the service orientation of on-board staff, and customer orientation in handling complaints. Punctuality and train cancellations are not included in the ranking as they are not solely the responsibility of the train operators.
Despite the increased number of passengers, some networks managed to meet the minimum service quality expectations, like the DB-Regio network Kahlgrund which even scored a perfect 100 points. Conversely, the Number of passengers on the Alex-Nord network of the Länderbahn significantly contributed to its poor performance, resulting in -16 points and placing it at the bottom of the annual ranking.
