Deutsche Bahn makes 99.99-euro family ticket permanent starting in November

Permanent family ticket terms and rollout

Deutsche Bahn is making its flat-rate family ticket a permanent part of its regular ticket catalogue starting 1 November 2026. The ticket costs 99.99 euros for a return journey on Intercity-Express (ICE) services and covers up to two adults travelling with as many as four children, with seat reservations included at no additional charge. Advance booking for the offer opens on 26 October 2026 under the same conditions that applied during its seasonal trial run. Deutsche Bahn chief executive Evelyn Palla announced the rollout in an interview with Bild am Sonntag.

We have decided to permanently include the family ticket, which we initially introduced temporarily for the summer holidays, in our product range.

Passenger demand and summer trial results

The permanent offer follows ridership growth recorded during the summer school holidays, when the state-owned rail company first introduced the promotional fare. Palla stated that Deutsche Bahn welcomed 100,000 more families aboard its trains during the summer period compared to the previous year. Internal figures through the end of July recorded more than 200,000 passengers using the package. The holiday demand contributed to broader volume increases across the network, where roughly 960 million passengers travelled on Deutsche Bahn trains in the first half of 2026, representing an increase of 17 million travellers compared to the first half of 2025.

Network strain and punctuality metrics

Alongside the commercial rollout, Palla cautioned that train punctuality across Germany will not see swift improvements. In September, punctuality for long-distance services fell to 52.4%, marking the second-lowest monthly rate recorded in 2026 and worsening compared to August. Deutsche Bahn classifies a service as delayed when it reaches a station at least six minutes behind schedule, an indicator that does not count cancelled trains. A broader metric, passenger punctuality, measures the share of travellers arriving within 14 minutes and 59 seconds of schedule including cancellations, which stood at 58.6% in September. Frequent equipment disruptions and switch failures across the network caused numerous delays throughout the month.

Of course we are not at all satisfied with punctuality in long-distance transport. There is nothing to gloss over.

Long-term infrastructure renewal and construction

Palla attributed the operational challenges to decades of neglected infrastructure maintenance across Germany. Prolonged summer heatwaves with temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius repeatedly triggered switch mechanism failures because aging components were not built to withstand sustained extreme heat. Modernizing the national rail network will take at least ten years of continuous renewal before passengers experience substantial reliability gains. Palla noted that approximately 75% of long-distance trains currently arrive with delays of under 15 minutes, comparing the perception to road trips between Munich and Berlin. In addition to regular wear, extensive track renewal between Berlin and Hannover will add roughly 80 minutes to trip times over the next 14 months.

A large part of our facilities is too old, too prone to disruption and fails too often. We can only renew the system piece by piece and cannot make up in one or two years for what was neglected for long years.