In mid-December, Evelyn Palla, the newly appointed chief executive of Deutsche Bahn (DB), unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan for Germany’s state-owned rail operator, set to take effect in 2026.
After receiving approval from DB's supervisory board on December 10, Palla said the company would eliminate around 30% of its executive positions as part of an effort to streamline management, decentralize decision-making, and improve punctuality and efficiency by making the organization more agile.
The overhaul comes at a low point for Deutsche Bahn's performance. This autumn, punctuality fell to a new record low, with just 55% of long-distance trains arriving less than six minutes late — the company's official definition of "on time."
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Punctuality has been deteriorating for years, turning DB into one of Europe's weakest performers. For commuters, delays and cancellations have become a daily experience, particularly in densely populated regions, where passengers now consider themselves fortunate if every second train arrives on schedule.
The crisis took on an international dimension in the summer of 2024, when Switzerland barred Deutsche Bahn trains from its rail network, citing concerns that chronic delays would disrupt Swiss timetables.
The decision exposed, in stark terms, Germany's decades-long failure to invest adequately in its rail system and halt the deterioration of its transport infrastructure.
According to the German Transport Ministry, roughly half of the country's rail tracks are in mediocre, poor, or deficient condition. About one-fifth of the infrastructure will need to be replaced in the medium term, while some elements — including signal boxes that are more than 100 years old — require immediate attention.
For the past 30 years, Germany has spent only a fraction of what neighboring countries such as Switzerland and Austria have invested in maintaining and upgrading their rail networks.
At the same time, the German rail system has shrunk even as demand has grown, with more people commuting longer distances for work. The result is a network carrying more traffic on fewer tracks — many of them in disrepair — a combination that lies at the heart of Deutsche Bahn's problems.
Jens Kaminski, a veteran train driver who has worked for DB since 1994, remembers a very different era. Back then, the German phrase "Pünktlich wie die Bahn" ("punctual as a train") was still commonly used in Germany.
"In those days, when you walked through the village, people greeted you like a firefighter — like a hero," Kaminski told DW. "Today it's more like: Oh, he's a train driver. You’re nothing."
Among railway workers, another saying once prevailed: the timetable is law. Kaminski recalled why things were "different" during those years.
"We had 12 people on standby at the depot. If something went wrong — a breakdown, anything — they would step in and fix it. No problem. Today, standby crews are gone. Too expensive."
Kaminski's career closely mirrors the modern history of Deutsche Bahn. He began work in 1994, the same year East and West Germany's rail operators merged to form Deutsche Bahn AG, just four years after reunification.
The new company was meant to embody market-oriented reform. As a stock corporation wholly owned by the state, DB was tasked with becoming competitive and profitable, with a long-term goal of listing shares on the stock market.
What followed was aggressive cost-cutting. Investment in both infrastructure and staff was scaled back to make the company more attractive to investors.
"That's when the real job cuts began," Kaminski said. "Tracks were closed — even passing tracks that were essential. It was radical."
The initial public offering never materialized, and the German government remains DB's sole shareholder.
Germany's Federal Court of Audit has repeatedly criticized Berlin for failing to fulfill its responsibilities as owner of the rail operator.
In their most recent report, the auditors wrote, "for three decades, the federal government has failed to address key railway policy issues."
Further down, they said: "Deutsche Bahn has long failed to meet customer expectations for punctuality and reliability. The company is in a constant state of crisis and in need of reform."
The court also pointed to the government's constitutional obligation to maintain rail infrastructure as a public good and ensure reliable train services.
Switzerland faced similar challenges in the 1990s but took a different approach. Like Germany, it converted its rail operator into a corporation with the state as sole shareholder.
Unlike Germany, it made clear that the rail system's primary purpose was public service, not profit.
Peter Füglistaler, a former supervisor of Swiss rail operator SBB, says rail infrastructure shouldn't be meant to "generate profit."
"Its goal is to provide capacity and punctuality — benefits for everyone," he told German regional broadcaster WDR, adding that running a railway required a management philosophy focused on reliability rather than financial returns.
"Germany invests much less in its railways than Switzerland. If you invest much less, you cannot expect the same quality," said Füglistaler.
Data shows that 90% of Swiss trains now run on time — a standard the country enforces strictly, as illustrated by its ban on German trains delayed by more than 15 minutes.
Germany's neglect of rail is often linked to its strong car culture. Over the past three decades, successive governments have invested roughly twice as much in roads and autobahns (highways) as in rail infrastructure.
Still, signs of change are emerging. Palla is Deutsche Bahn's first female CEO and its first chief executive to hold a train driver's license. Major investments are already underway.
Of the €500 billion ($585 billion) in new debt that's been taken on by Germany's new government to modernize the military and public infrastructure, around €150 billion is earmarked for the rail system.
For passengers, however, the turnaround will not come quickly. Construction and repairs are expected to cause additional disruptions in the near term — meaning that before trains run more reliably, delays are likely to get worse.
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