Deutsche Bahn pays € 197 million in delays compensation in 2024 – DW – 03/09/2025

The German railway operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) reported on Sunday that he had paid almost 197 million euros ($ 214 million) in customer compensation for delays and cancellations.

More than a third of Deutsche Bahn’s long -distance rail services were not punctual in 2024. The company considers that a train will be late if it arrives more than 5:59 minutes after its scheduled time.

Around 37.5% of DB arrivals were considered delayed by that goal, the worst punctual qualification in at least 21 years.

“If a train has been delayed and our passengers are entitled to compensation, we pay this without discussion. And long delays lead to high compensation payments,” said a company spokesman to the German newspaper Bild.

Almost 7 million people made claims

According to DB, he received around 6.9 million claims last year. In 2023, the company received 5.6 million claims and had to pay about 132.8 million euros.

The German rail system has become an important source of frustration for railway travelers in recent years.

Customers have faced more and more with overpopulated trains, delays and service cancellations.

“DB aims to raise the punctuality of its long -distance express services to 75% to 80% by the end of 2027,” said the spokesman.

Ancient and overloaded infrastructure

DB customers have also had to deal with regular closures of large track sections for maintenance and repair work.

According to DB, 80% of the delays in 2024 were due to ancient and overloaded infrastructure, which has been tensioned by the increase in traffic in the main transport centers.

The rail operator is currently planning the main renovations in 41 high -traffic corridors by 2030.

In addition, DB has previously blamed a “adjusted labor market” as a contributing factor for delays, which DB said it had made it difficult to meet the personnel requirements.