Japanese trains are world-renowned for their punctuality, which, according to the DB Group, is unattainable in Germany. Deutsche Bahn board member Petersen said the country’s rail network was not designed for this.
The punctuality of Deutsche Bahn is far from that of Japanese trains, and DB Group also believes that the reliability is quite unrealistic. Michael Peterson, head of long-distance passenger transport at the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung, said Japan’s 99 per cent punctuality was impossible in this country. “In Germany, freight, regional and long-distance trains share the same rail network. The concept was not designed for 99% punctuality.”
The manager said that after many sites were completed, the railway hoped to be above 80 per cent again for the foreseeable future. An important phase is the renovation of the railway line between Frankfurt and Mannheim until the end of 2024. “With the opening of Stuttgart 21 at the end of 2025, many long-distance transport journey times will be reduced.” Petersen. a little patience. “But within a few decades, the railways will be in much better shape than they are now.”
Every Minute Counts on the Shinkansen
In Japan, railways still strictly follow the traditional “imperial” punctuality. For example, Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains are rarely delayed — except for natural disasters such as earthquakes. Brief delays of less than a minute can lead to repeated apologies from passengers.
Last year, a train driver caused a stir when he was deducted 40 cents from his wages for a minute of delay. He sued it, won the case and got 40 cents back, but no compensation.
On the other hand, according to Deutsche Bahn, a stop is considered punctual if it is less than 6 or 16 minutes behind the scheduled arrival time. Rail board member Peterson said many construction sites were currently slowing rail traffic significantly. “Currently, nearly 70 per cent of long-distance trains pass at least one construction site.” Still, about 65 per cent arrive on time, he said. “By the way, this is unthinkable for a construction site on a highway.”
general decoration on many routes
Important routes such as Mannheim-Frankfurt or Hamburg-Berlin are being refurbished and have been completely closed for months. Passengers traveling by train during the summer holidays have had to deal with delays, diversions and cancellations on many lines due to maintenance.
At the end of March, the leaders of the Berlin Traffic Light Union determined that the railways will need around 45 billion euros to meet investment needs by 2027. The focus is on complete refurbishment: more than 40 particularly tense and important lines will be completely closed for almost half a year each, so that everything that needs to be repaired can be repaired at once: stations, overhead lines, rails, switches and so on. more.