Central German S-Bahn trains slightly less punctual than in previous years

The S-Bahn in Central Germany is one of the most punctual in Germany, according to an evaluation, but has lost some of its reliability in recent years. In 2023, 95.6 percent of stops were reached on time, according to an answer from the Federal Ministry of Transport to a question from Green Party MP Matthias Gastel. This is the worst figure in the past five years. The most punctual suburban trains in Central Germany were in 2020 (97.8 percent). The ministry's response was made available to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Berlin on Monday.

A train is considered punctual in these statistics if it reaches a stop with a maximum delay of 5:59 minutes.

Nationwide, 92.5 percent of S-Bahn trains were on time last year - that is four percentage points less than in 2020. According to this, the S-Bahn trains in Berlin (96.6 percent) were the most punctual nationwide. The S-Bahn in Hamburg was similarly punctual, while delays were more frequent in Munich (89.5%) and Cologne (87.9%), for example. The nine largest S-Bahn networks operated by Deutsche Bahn were compared.

"The S-Bahn trains are increasingly running behind their own timetables. The causes are often to do with disruptions to the infrastructure and insufficient capacity in overloaded rail hubs," said Gastel. "What is needed in the long term is greater investment in a more efficient and less disruption-prone infrastructure."

Because the railroads are likely to have less money available in the coming years following the budget chaos at federal level, however, some planned infrastructure projects may not come to fruition for the time being.