Deutsche Bahn resets targets after nationwide outage, vows 80% punctuality only by 2035

A nationwide standstill

On the evening of 23 June, the entire German rail network came to a standstill. A planned maintenance procedure on the outdated GSM-R train radio system went wrong, severing communication between control centres and drivers. Thousands of passengers were stranded overnight. A day later, DB was already warning that extreme summer heat above 40 °C could cause further disruption, and offered free cancellations for tickets valid until 30 June – a first for the company.

Deutsche Bahn is in its biggest crisis in 30 years.

The former chief executive had already admitted that in March 2025. By the time he left, the punctuality rate for long-distance services had slipped to around 60 percent, and the flagship Stuttgart 21 deep station project was facing its ninth delay, with costs more than doubling.

Palla resets the dials

Two days after the outage, on 25 June, Evelyn Palla – who succeeded Lutz in October 2025 – presented a new corporate strategy to the supervisory board. She formally buried the “Strong Rail” doctrine of her predecessor, discarding the target of doubling passenger numbers and other growth-oriented promises.

We are bidding farewell to unattainable promises. We are setting our sights on realistic goals and facts.

The board-endorsed plan replaces ambition with reliability, operational quality, and economic sustainability. The DB expects its operating result to improve by more than one billion euros, reaching 1.7 billion euros by 2030. Michael Obrowski, head of finance and IT at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles since 2021, is set to become the new finance chief from 1 September, filling the vacancy left by Karin Dohm’s departure in March.

Three phases to a healthier railway

The restructuring is structured in three phases. The current year lays the foundation; from 2027 to 2030, the priority shifts entirely to rehabilitating the crumbling rail network; by 2035, DB says the “rehabilitation marathon” will be largely complete and passengers will finally notice clear improvements.

At the centre of the overhaul is a radical decentralisation. Regional managers will be given full responsibility for traffic quality – a central steering unit remains, but the precise method of hitting key figures is left to the regions. At the same time, DB will cut roughly 30 percent of the 3,500 positions in the central management layer.

Punctuality pushed into the next decade

The most visible concession is on long-distance punctuality. Palla is now targeting 69 to 72 percent by 2030, and 80 percent only by 2035. For comparison, the figure stood at 64 percent in 2023, 62.5 percent in 2024 and around 60 percent last year. She made clear that even the 2035 target depends on additional financial support from the government.

The full digitalisation of the rail system by 2035 has also been classified as unrealistic. “As long as signal boxes from the Kaiser era still exist, they have to be replaced step by step,” the company noted. Transport minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) had already distanced himself from earlier grandiose targets; he is demanding 70 percent punctuality by 2029 and 90 percent in the long term.

Freight customers demand independent oversight

The industry reacted with fury to the sequence of failures, particularly the freight sector. Neele Wesseln, managing director of the lobby group Die Güterbahnen, accused DB Infrago – the infrastructure arm – of lurching from one disaster to the next, dragging rail freight with it.

DB Infrago, as the infrastructure operator, is sliding from one disaster to the next and dragging rail freight down with it.

She cited the two-week chaos around Ascension Day in May in the Hanover area and on the north-south corridors, which especially strangled traffic to Hamburg’s port – the most important German seaport for rail freight. The association is calling for an independent Federal Office for Rail Infrastructure to oversee DB Infrago, arguing that the current oversight by the Federal Railway Authority and the Federal Network Agency is not enough.