German rail operator Deutsche Bahn has unveiled major plans to develop
its more than 33,000-kilometre network, including a much-needed boost to the flagging punctuality of services.
The Infrastructure Board Member, Berthold Huber, told The Pioneer news website that “we included a total
of €4 billion ($4.34 billion) in our planning to implement so-called smaller and medium-sized measures.”
He said the bulk of the fund will be injected into the rail network by 2027 but will still flow until 2030, outlining
355 improvement measures, mainly in regions with weaker traffic.
These include 36 overtaking tracks and 140 interchange points to organize track changes more quickly, for example during construction operations.
The package will have “a positive effect on the entire network, so that in the end we expect a punctuality gain of four percentage points,” Huber said.
Jarring with the age-old notion of German punctuality, Deutsche Bahn has posted a steady deterioration in this area in recent years.
In 2022, one third of its trains arrived at destinations at least six minutes later than scheduled, according to the operator’s base definition of lateness.
