On Tuesday, everything at Deutsche Bahn came to a sudden halt when the old GSM-R railway radio system malfunctioned during scheduled maintenance.
All train services were halted, and thousands of passengers were stranded overnight as control centers and train drivers could no longer communicate with each other.
The scorching heat has brought even more trouble. When temperatures exceed 40 °C (104 Fahrenheit), track and switch failure becomes extremely likely. In recent years, air conditioning systems in trains have also frequently failed.
As a precaution, Deutsche Bahn is already giving customers the option to cancel tickets free of charge for travel up to June 30. This has never happened before. Yet current problems are just the tip of the iceberg.
Only 60% of long distance trains are on time
Anyone in a position of authority at Deutsche Bahn has, first of all, one quality that has long been required: the ability to show humility and admit mistakes.
Taking stock of the situation in Berlin in March 2025, then-CEO Richard Lutz said, “Deutsche Bahn is facing the biggest crisis in 30 years.” “In key areas, we are far short of what we aimed to achieve and what our customers expect from us.”
When Lutz said this, 62% of long-distance trains were still arriving on time. By 2025, that figure will fall to 60% – and even that figure is artificially inflated. When a train is cancelled, which happens frequently, it is not included in the count. Nor are there trains that terminate their journey prematurely, i.e. they abandon their journey before reaching their final destination. A train is considered late if it is six minutes late.
After eight years at the helm of Deutsche Bahn, Lutz was replaced as CEO by Evelyn Palla last October. But the problems not only persist; Palla now faces even bigger challenges.
By 2030, the Railways aims to achieve a punctuality rate of 69-72%, which will increase to 80% by 2035.
“We are saying goodbye to unattainable promises,” Palla said after a supervisory board meeting in Berlin this week. “We’re focused on realistic goals and facts.”
The railway’s largest construction project, “Stuttgart 21”, is being delayed for the ninth time. The megaproject was originally scheduled for completion in 2019; It now looks like 2031, and costs have more than doubled.
In the Bundestag’s transport committee on Wednesday, Palla talked about incorrectly laid cables, an emergency power supply that cannot be approved and problems with digitalization. Other projects are also proving more difficult than expected.
who is responsible?
To understand the reasons behind mismanagement at Deutsche Bahn we have to go back several decades.
After German reunification in 1990, there were two railway systems: one in the former West Germany and one in the former East. Both state-owned operations were incurring losses. They were merged into Deutsche Bahn, which remained a state-owned company.
Initially, substantial funds were invested in individual high-speed lines aimed at connecting both parts of the country. However, much of the network was already in an outdated state. Even today, there are stretches of track across the country where rails, switches and signal boxes date back to the 19th century.
Nevertheless, Deutsche Bahn was expected to operate profitably like a private company. A stock exchange listing was also planned for 2008.
To prepare the railway group for investors, manager Hartmut Mehdorn was brought in. He implemented cost cutting measures and focused on returns.
Under Mehdorn’s leadership, Deutsche Bahn significantly reduced its workforce, including in safety-critical areas such as operations and maintenance. It sold real estate and assets. The investment required in tracks, signal boxes and bridges was either eliminated altogether or minimized, as they would be expensive in the short term and would not promise any quick returns.
Instead, Mehdorn invested in the lucrative international logistics sector. But the plan did not work. Deutsche Bahn’s value in financial markets was lower than expected, and then the 2008 financial crisis occurred and intervention occurred. Listing in the stock market was stopped.
Decades ahead of renewal
What is left is a debt-ridden company in desperate need of investment. Deutsche Bahn’s network extends to approximately 33,500 kilometers (20,800 mi) of track. Its parts have worn out so much that disruptions and failures have become part of everyday operations.
Even the railway chiefs who followed Mehdorn were unable to do anything to change this fact, simply because the necessary funds were lacking. Political priorities favored the expansion of car and road infrastructure, to the detriment of railways.
The main problem of the railways is that the need for renewal is now so great that it will take years to resolve the most serious issues. Furthermore, much of the existing infrastructure can no longer be repaired, as it is unsuitable for the digitally controlled rail operations that are set to become the standard.
In many places, demolition and reconstruction are inevitable. Forty main lines required to operate a high-performance rail network have been selected for the largest infrastructure project in the history of railways. About 4,200 kilometers of track is to be affected by 2030.
The problem is that each of these lines must be completely closed for several months, while rail operations must of course continue. This is only possible by taking long detours, often adding 60 to 90 minutes to travel time. Additionally, the already overloaded rail network will come under even greater strain.
Things will get worse before they get better
The first lines have already been completed: after a six-week delay, the 280-kilometre Berlin–Hamburg line reopened on 14 June. However, it still faces restrictions: trains must travel more slowly than otherwise. As a result, journey time has increased by approximately 30 minutes.
From October, the Berlin-Hannover connection is scheduled to be renovated. This will also be completely closed, which will add 60 to 80 minutes to the travel time.
By 2030, the railway radio system – which was responsible for the complete shutdown on Tuesday – is set to be upgraded to the 5G mobile standard. Other EU countries have long ago moved away from 2G technology.
One can only hope that, along with the upgrading of internal communication, communication with customers will also be brought to a higher level. Currently, most passengers receive little information during a disruption. Even at the stations, there is rarely any guidance available – and certainly not for passengers arriving from abroad, unless they speak German.
This article was originally written in German.