The German railway company, Deutsche Bahn (DB), managed to surpass the 60 percent punctuality mark for its long-distance services in March. This information comes from the state-owned company’s data, as reported by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. According to the report, on an average of 62.1 percent of all ICE and IC trains reached their destinations on time during March.
Despite this improvement, the company still experienced about half a dozen days where punctuality for long-distance trains hovered just above 50 percent. A train is considered on time if it has a delay of less than six minutes. Overall, however, punctuality in March settled at a significantly higher level compared to preceding months when operations were hampered by snow, ice, and cold weather, which in some regions caused temporary stoppages. On three separate days, Deutsche Bahn achieved punctuality rates exceeding 70 percent.
The beginning of April showed even better results. After punctuality had fallen below 60 percent immediately before the Easter weekend, it rose sharply to 73.7 percent on Good Friday. On Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday, over 75 percent of all long-distance trains arrived on time on each of those days, and the rate remained close to 70 percent on Easter Monday.