Deutsche Bahn to Drastically Cut Long-Distance Trains

Deutsche Bahn, the German national railway company, will drastically reduce long-distance train traffic and raise fares to improve punctuality and cut the company’s losses.

Fewer trains, higher prices

According to the German newspaper Tagesspiegel, which obtained an internal Deutsche Bahn document, the rail company plans to take drastic measures to restructure its long-distance train division.

In an effort to reduce losses in its high-speed ICE train division and improve punctuality, Deutsche Bahn will cut long-distance services and raise fares.

Finances

The internal document, addressed to Deutsche Bahn’s former CEO Richard Lutz, reveals that the company’s long-distance train division is at risk of recording substantial losses.

In 2024, passenger numbers fell to 133 million, revenue remained stagnant at €6.1 billion, and the division posted a loss of €427 million, nearly matching the previous year’s deficit.

The losses are mainly the result of enormous interest and repayment obligations, as well as high depreciation costs for the modernised train fleet.

The company expects to incur further losses over the year 2025.

Martin Burkert, Chairman of the German railway and transport union EVG and Vice Chairman of the Deutsche Bahn Supervisory Board, warned that due to rising track access prices alone, Deutsche Bahn’s long-distance train division will have to absorb around €95 million in additional costs this year.

Mr Burkert said that because of this, “Deutsche Bahn long-distance ticket prices could soon increase by at least ten percent”.

Reportedly, there are serious concerns among Deutsche Bahn directors that if the deficit persists and losses have to be covered, the state-owned company and the federal government could face EU proceedings over anti-competitive state aid, which could in turn force tough restructuring measures on the company.

Thinned out timetables

In the 183-page internal document for the 2026 timetable, Deutsche Bahn is said to cut many long-distance trains, particularly on routes aimed at domestic tourism.

Examples include the direct connections between Berlin and Westerland on the North Sea island of Sylt, as well as trains between Hamburg and Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps.

Services to Lake Constance and Garmisch-Partenkirchen will be reduced by half, and the Railjet route Frankfurt–Stuttgart–Lindau–Arlberg will be discontinued.

Some cities, such as Tübingen and Lübeck, will also lose all long-distance train services entirely.

Kiel will lose its direct connections to Cologne, Munich, and Basel, while the Hamburg–Vienna service via Passau will also be cancelled.

Many services linking Frankfurt with Austria via Stuttgart and Munich will be withdrawn in the new railway timetable, and significantly fewer trains will continue through to Switzerland.

Deutsche Bahn also plans to scale back its regional network and reallocate trains to routes popular with business travellers in order to increase frequencies there.

Punctuality

By reducing long-distance services and cutting some connections altogether, Deutsche Bahn also hopes to improve the poor punctuality record of German trains.

According to Deutsche Bahn’s own punctuality data for 2024, well over a third (37.5%) of all long-distance trains were delayed, meaning they arrived six minutes or more behind schedule.

Rail consultant Felix Berschin, who analysed the internal document, criticised Deutsche Bahn’s plans to reduce services, describing them as counterproductive.

Mr Berschin said that while he understands that “complexity needs to be removed” from the timetable to make long-distance transport more efficient, “the fact that DB is now doing this to successful tourist trains like the ‘Prinz Eugen’ [the Hamburg-Vienna ICE train] can only be described as capitulation”.

According to Mr Berschin, the problems within Deutsche Bahn’s long-distance division stem from mismanagement, including frequent train breakdowns, poor personnel planning, unnecessary stops at major stations such as Cologne and Frankfurt despite better alternatives, and ICE services running over excessively long distances as part of the clockface schedule, often resulting in severe delays and disruption to other services.

He also said that the main railway stations in Frankfurt, Cologne, Munich, and Hamburg urgently need to be relieved of congestion, rather than having even more trains scheduled there.

New ICE Sprinter from Berlin to Stuttgart

The internal document also contains some good news for train travellers, as Deutsche Bahn plans to introduce an ICE Sprinter service linking Berlin with Stuttgart in a record time of 4 hours and 45 minutes.

This new service will take the shorter route via the Thuringian Forest High-Speed Line between Erfurt and Nuremberg, significantly reducing travel times compared with the current connections between Germany’s capital and the capital of Baden-Württemberg.

At present, travellers between Berlin and Stuttgart either face a time-consuming transfer in Nuremberg or take the direct service across a slower route, which currently adds almost an hour to the journey.

Deutsche Bahn reaction

Deutsche Bahn declined to comment publicly on the leaked internal document, with a spokesperson stating that “we will announce the upcoming timetable at the end of September”.

Conclusion

According to internal documents obtained by a major German newspaper, Deutsche Bahn plans to drastically slim down its timetables in 2025 by cancelling many long-distance services.

The long-distance train division of the German national railway company is facing such severe financial problems that it will likely be forced to raise fares by at least 10 percent in the near future.