Punctuality

To measure punctuality, we continually compare the scheduled arrival time to the actual arrival time for every train/bus run. We summarize the arrival of trains/buses on schedule or up to a defined maximum delay using a degree of punctuality.

The punctuality in rail transport in Germany has continued to decline despite intensive efforts within the Integrated Rail System, thus continuing the negative trend since 2021. The reasons for the tense operating situation are:

• Poor condition of facilities: The outdated and overloaded infrastructure leads to a large number of disruptions, especially in the superstructure. These disruptions result in a high number of restricted speed sections.
• Construction activities during the business year: The large number of construction activities during the business year disrupt capacity management and lead to a destabilization of the schedule processes.
• High traffic density: The growth in traffic, especially in the major transport hubs, continues to put the infrastruc­ture under strain and causes significant passing on of delays.
• Personnel: In some key operational functions, the impact of the tight labor market is particularly noticeable, making it difficult to meet personnel requirements (for example traffic controllers and traction unit drivers).
• Other events: Extreme weather events, such as the floods in southern Germany at the beginning of June 2024, which led to substantial damages to the infrastructure and long-lasting adverse effects on rail operations, a high number of interventions in rail operations by third parties and public authority activities led to further negative punctuality effects. Strike measures taken by the GDL also had an impact.
• Lack of robustness in the system: The operational challenges in all production processes lead overall to a considerable dispositive burden in all rail operations. Due to low resilience and overlapping of individual effects, each additional disruptive effect leads to a greater and longer impact on operational quality.

In order to counteract the negative development and stabilize the operational quality, in addition to the measures taken into account in the quality planning (for example the Digital Production Network, the SB² (alleviate the pressure on the system and stabilize operations) initiative), measures intended to support stabilization in the short term were also implemented faster as part of the punctuality action plan.

Punctuality action plan

The punctuality of DB Long-Distance has fallen again since the beginning of 2024, despite a low initial value. We have therefore drawn up a punctuality action plan, which combines existing initiatives to increase operational reliability and accelerates their implementation. At the heart of the action plan are the increase in the on-time start of the train run, the removal of exceptional speed limits on line sections, the increase in the technical availability of the vehicle fleet and the stabilization in the major transport hubs. We want also to provide our customers with more reliable information on the duration of disruptions. The results are monitored intensively and, depending on the development, additional countermeasures are initiated.

Stabilization of rail operations and improved construction with SB²

The SB² program, which was launched in 2023, aims to alleviate the pressure on the rail system and stabilize operations. The main approach here is to change the construction regime for maintenance and capital expenditure measures. The so-called container approach is a move away from the coordination of necessary closure times in “individual manufacture” to a scheduled production standard in the form of standardized closure times for maintenance and construction capital expenditures. This approach is a prerequisite for reconciling the volume of construction needed to modernize the existing network with the train operating companies’ expectations of plannable and stable schedule conditions.

SB² creates the structural basis for our ability to modernize our facilities and ensure that they remain in a good, robust condition: scheduled, standardized time slots for construction work on the track also make it possible to plan construction times and resources with greater foresight and to communicate the associated schedule documents on time. For train operating companies, this means that they can plan their train runs earlier and better.

In the first half of 2024, the basic concept of maintenance containers was completed, resulting in four different container types: those for lines, hubs, S-Bahn (metro) networks and preventive work. The maintenance container type for lines has been rolled out since July 15, 2024; the first hub containers will follow in the fourth quarter of 2024. Maintenance work takes place in four-week cycles and with eight hours of closure time within the containers, whereby all containers in the line network are arranged in such a way that transport conflicts resulting from construction activities are minimized.

Capital expenditure containers for major construction capital expenditure activities are scheduled to be used for the first time in 2027, due to the required lead times. The planning process for this has already shown that about 70% of the planned construction work can be completed within the defined containers and that this proportion will increase in the following years. Capital expenditure containers will be included in the network schedule so that no schedule arrangements within a year will be required. In addition to better long-term stability in the scheduling process, this approach gives our partners in the construction industry more time to prepare and more planning security in resource provisioning.

Digital Production Network 2024

A completely digital integrated railway – this is the task of the Digital Production Network. The long-term target continues to be to ensure the completeness and suitability of activities relating to the digital transformation in rail operations. The portfolio was focused for 2024 and comprises a total of 38 measures as well as the gradual further development of the target vision “ONE digital railway” for a mutual control and cooperation model. In 2024, the Digital Production Network continues this cooperation model with Digital Production Network projects and strengthens the mutual content framework. In 2024, the Digital Production Network portfolio should help train operating companies of DB Group and third parties to avoid about 328,000 lost units (LU). An LU is a punctuality-related delay in a train run. The LU reduction is realized through effects from integrated system, business unit and DB InfraGO projects.