Deutsche Bahn (DB) posted a smaller loss in the first half of the year than in the same period last year. The loss of €760 million was almost €1 billion lower than in the first half of 2024, the company announced on Thursday. Although revenue increased slightly, the company still missed its targets. Punctuality, particularly in long-distance traffic, was once again very poor.
The state-owned company's revenue increased by 3.4 percent to €13.3 billion in the first six months of the year. "Due to the disruption-prone infrastructure, the high number of additional construction sites required, and the resulting continued poor punctuality, revenue overall remained below expectations," Deutsche Bahn explained.
In long-distance traffic, 63.4 percent of trains arrived at their destination with less than six minutes' delay in the first half of the year. In the first half of 2024, the rate was 62.7 percent. "For the full year, we are sticking to our goal of achieving at least 65 percent punctuality in long-distance traffic," said Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz.
According to the company, the unreliability of rail is preventing business travelers in particular from switching to rail. "As a result, DB Fernverkehr's revenue fell short of expectations despite improvements of 6.1 percent." Nevertheless, demand for rail travel remains generally high. According to DB, the number of passengers rose from 919 million in the same period last year to 943 million. Transport performance increased by almost four percent to 41.9 billion passenger kilometers. Long-distance traffic increased by five percent, and regional traffic by two percent.
Lutz emphasized that progress was being made in the restructuring of the group, "especially in terms of profitability." "The DB Group is on much more stable financial footing today than at the beginning of the year," he explained. Mainly due to the sale of its logistics subsidiary Schenker, the railway company had reduced its debt by €10.5 billion. Net financial debt now stands at €22 billion.
Human Resources Director Martin Seiler also spoke of 2,000 full-time positions being eliminated, more than half of them in administration. Deutsche Bahn has thus "exceeded" its target in this regard. Seiler emphasized that while the bottom line is that jobs are being cut, Deutsche Bahn is continuing to hire "massively" elsewhere – "namely in operational staff."
At the same time, a "fundamental renewal and modernization of the network" is needed to stabilize operations, explained CEO Lutz. "Much remains to be done." In the heavily used core network, "almost every second system relevant to operations and punctuality is in need of renewal and is therefore far too susceptible to failure."
Lutz is calling on politicians to increase track access pricing subsidies and reform the track access pricing system. Track access pricing is a type of rail toll for using the rail network, which all transport companies pay. Prices have risen sharply in recent years, but they are capped for regional transport, which is why long-distance and freight transport have been the main drivers of price increases in recent years. The Deutsche Bahn CEO has now reiterated his threat to reduce long-distance service if politicians fail to take action.
According to Deutsche Bahn, €7.3 billion was invested in the "Rail System Integration" in the first half of the year, €349 million more than in the same period last year. Deutsche Bahn's self-financed investments declined to €1.8 billion because "the federal government assumed a larger share of the overall increase in infrastructure investments."
Green Party rail expert Matthias Gastel accused Deutsche Bahn CEO Lutz of eyewash. "The restructuring strategy saved the company just €100 million. The remaining €900 million in lower losses only arose because the federal government paid the infrastructure financing in advance," he explained. "This is a scam." The federal government must finally take action against Deutsche Bahn.
Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) is dissatisfied with Deutsche Bahn's (DB) performance. Punctuality, in particular, must "absolutely" improve, he said. Schnieder announced an "overall strategy" "by the end of the summer" to get the state-owned company back on track.
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