German railroad “timetables are no longer calculated, but only estimated, according to a scathing report by an advisory board to DB, the German state-owned rail operator. The report was made available to German press.
According to the report, passengers can no longer rely on trains running as advertised and are instead facing delay after cancellation after delay. Timetables are increasingly proving to be wishful thinking, rather than a reflection of reality.
The report blames the situation on years of deferred maintenance leading to defects in tracks, switches and bridges. These issues require workarounds, speed restrictions, reroutings and often cancelations “on a scale that has never been seen before.”
This year alone, timetables have had to be changed between 2 and 3 million times, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The advisory board report goes on to say that the planning of train journeys is increasingly becoming a lottery: “timetables are no longer calculated, but only estimated.”
Philipp Nagl, CEO at DB Netz AG, the DB arm responsible for the right-of-way, told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “In recent decades, too little has been renewed, too little has been invested in renovation.” According to Nagl, 2024 will be the first year in which DB will be able to “stop the ageing of the infrastructure and initiate a turnaround.” That said, it will be several years before serious improvement takes place.
