In anticipation of increased travel during the Christmas season, Deutsche Bahn plans to reduce construction work on its rail network around the holidays. “We will try to reduce construction activity over the Christmas holidays to ease pressure on the rail network,” said Bahn CEO Evelyn Palla in an interview with Table.Briefings (Monday). She expects more than five million passengers during the holidays, with ticket sales already six percent higher than last year.
“All available trains will be deployed. Everything that can run, will run,” Palla emphasized. Despite this, the CEO anticipates that long-distance services will be more delayed than ever this year, with punctuality expected to drop below 60 percent. “By the end of the year, we will probably see a five in front,” she said. In October, long-distance trains recorded a new low punctuality rate of 51.5 percent, with monthly punctuality remaining under 60 percent since June.
A train is considered on time if it is less than six minutes late. Looking ahead, conditions are unlikely to improve in 2026, as the number of construction sites across the network will increase from 26,000 to 28,000, Palla said. “Only in 2027 will it noticeably get better.”
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