Germany's Deutsche Bahn Gets More Investment but Must Win Back Public Trust

Deutsche Bahn Receives More Investment Amid Urgent Need for Public Trust Revival

Deutsche Bahn's Struggles and Government Intervention

By Maria Martinez

BERLIN, April 1 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bahn is seeing more bookings than expected as Easter approaches and fuel price rises draw people to trains, but it faces an uphill struggle in overhauling its ageing network and restoring public goodwill after a long decline.

Passenger Experiences Highlight Ongoing Issues

 Passengers like Inga Nielsen, 29, say they have had years of bad experiences. In 2021, a six-hour direct trip from Amsterdam to Berlin turned into an hours-long odyssey with regional trains and a bus. Two weeks ago, her train was delayed by two hours after breaking down.

"The main reason to use Deutsche Bahn is that flying is becoming more expensive again, but you pay extra in stress," she told Reuters.

Economic Factors and Symbolic Importance

Analysts often link the decline of Deutsche Bahn to the woes of the wider German economy, which has struggled to regain momentum since the COVID-19 pandemic, amid rising competition from China, lack of investment and higher energy prices. Now the government is spending big to revive both.

"In a way, the railway stands symbolically for how Germany as a business location is now perceived," said Tim Engartner, professor at the University of Cologne and author of several studies on Deutsche Bahn. "Things are not running smoothly."

Restoring Reliability and Public Trust

Passengers Want a Railway They Can Rely On

PASSENGERS WANT A RAILWAY THEY CAN RELY ON

Last Friday, Deutsche Bahn's CEO Evelyn Palla said at a press conference presenting 2025's financial results, a net loss of 2.3 billion euros ($2.66 billion), that customers rightly expected a railway they could rely on.

"In recent years, we have too often disappointed that trust — through inadequate quality, through losses, and through a lack of transparency," she said.

However, it would take 10 years and about 150 billion euros ($162 billion) in extra funding to complete the planned overhaul of the rail network, she said.

The German government is stepping up investment in the state-owned operator to speed up the turnaround.

A test looms over the Easter holiday, after Deutsche Bahn said long-distance ticket bookings are in the double-digit percentage range above expectations partly as the Iran war pushes up fuel prices.

Punctuality and Management Instability

Forty Percent of Long-Distance Trains Delayed

FORTY PERCENT OF LONG-DISTANCE TRAINS DELAYED

Deutsche Bahn said 60% of its long-distance trains ran on time in 2025, meaning 40% did not. A train is considered late if it arrives six minutes or more behind schedule.

An operational crisis has been matched by churn at the top. Former finance chief Levin Holle left in May, ex-CEO Richard Lutz was pushed out in August, and new CFO Karin Dohm departed after only four months a few days ago, a sign of the management instability complicating the state-owned railway's turnaround.

Investment and Infrastructure Challenges

Experts say Deutsche Bahn's problems are the result of decades of underinvestment in infrastructure, despite rising rail use, as well as its status as a joint-stock company aiming to turn a profit as well as provide a public service.

Germany doubled per-capita government investment in rail infrastructure to 198 euros in 2024 from the previous year, but still lagged Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and Britain, according to transport association Allianz pro Schiene.

"The structural problem is that the railway is not sufficiently financed by the state as a public good," said Vera Huwe, researcher at the think tank Dezernat Zukunft.

Record Investments and Future Plans

Gross investment rose to a record 22 billion euros in 2025 and 23 billion euros in investment is planned for 2026, which Palla called "a super construction year".

Germany's 500 billion euro infrastructure fund should help, with Deutsche Bahn set to receive 81 billion euros between 2025 and 2029.

"They call it an investment push, but it's more about stabilising the system," mobility expert Katja Diehl said. 

($1 = 0.8662 euros)

(Reporting by Maria Martinez; additional reporting by Christian Kraemer; editing by Alexandra Hudson)