Development in the year under review
- Price adjustments and, in particular, expense grants from the Federal Government for the previous year also lead to a significant improvement in profits.
- GDL strikes have a significant dampening effect on volume produced and revenues.
- Additional burdens from higher maintenance measures to improve quality, increased operational and infrastructure-related compensation payments to TOCs, weather events, pay scale effects and an increase in the number of employees.
- First general modernization completed.
| DB InfraGO | 2024 | 2023 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| absolute | % | |||
| Punctuality DB Group (rail) in Germany (%) | 89.4 | 90.1 | –0.7 | – |
| Punctuality (rail) in Germany 1) (%) | 88.1 | 88.9 | –0.8 | – |
| Facilities quality (passenger stations) (grade) | 2.72 2) | 2.77 2) | –0.05 | – |
| Customer satisfaction Track (grade) | 3.7 | 3.6 | +0.1 | – |
| Customer satisfaction stations (passengers/visitors) (grade) | 2.6 | 2.5 | +0.1 | – |
| Customer satisfaction stations (TOCs, public transport authorities and Federal states) (grade) | 2.7 | 2.8 | –0.1 | – |
| Customer satisfaction tenants (grade) | 2.3 | 2.2 | +0.1 | – |
| Condition grade overall network (grade) | 3.0 | 3.0 | – | – |
| Condition grade passenger stations (grade) | 3.03 | – | – | – |
| Length of line operated as of Dec 31 (km) | 33,365 | 33,351 | +14 | – |
| Passenger stations | 5,401 | 5,399 | +2 | – |
| Train kilometers on track infrastructure (million train-path km) | 1,102 | 1,116 | –14 | –1.3 |
| thereof non-Group railways | 448.7 | 437.7 | +11.0 | +2.5 |
| Share of non-Group railways (%) | 40.7 | 39.2 | +1.5 | – |
| Station stops (million) | 159.7 | 159.2 | +0.5 | +0.3 |
| thereof non-Group railways | 49.3 | 47.8 | +1.5 | +3.1 |
| Total revenues (€ million) | 8,090 | 7,779 | +311 | +4.0 |
| thereof train-path revenues | 6,147 | 5,943 | +204 | +3.4 |
| thereof station revenues | 1,039 | 1,028 | +11 | +1.1 |
| thereof rental | 431 | 372 | +59 | +15.9 |
| External revenues (€ million) | 3,054 | 2,819 | +235 | +8.3 |
| Share of total revenues (%) | 37.8 | 36.2 | +1.6 | – |
| EBITDA adjusted (€ million) | 1,160 | –415 | +1,575 | – |
| EBIT adjusted (€ million) | 226 | –1,248 | +1,474 | – |
| Operating income after interest (€ million) | –1 | –1,429 | +1,428 | –99.9 |
| Gross capital expenditures (€ million) | 15,217 | 12,341 | +2,876 | +23.3 |
| DB-financed net capital expenditures (€ million) | 3,180 | 2,045 | +1,135 | +55.5 |
| Employees as of Dec 31 (FTE) | 68,197 | 63,870 | +4,327 | +6.8 |
| Employees annual average (FTE) | 66,774 | 61,940 | +4,834 | +7.8 |
| Employee satisfaction (SI) | 3.7 | – | – | – |
| Share of women as of Dec 31 (%) | 24.6 | 24.3 | +0.3 | – |
| Track kilometers noise-remediated in total as of Dec 31 (km) | 2,324 | 2,255 | +69 | +3.1 |
| Absolute greenhouse gas emissions Scope 1 and 2 (Track) compared to 2019 (%) | –9.4 | –7.2 | –2.2 | – |
| Absolute greenhouse gas emissions Scope 1 and 2 (Passenger Stations) compared to 2019 (%) | –27.2 | –24.3 | –2.9 | – |
1) Group-external and internal train operating companies.
2) Preliminary figure.
The punctuality of DB Group and of rail in Germany declined. One of the main reasons for this is the high level of disruptions caused by outdated and fault-prone facilities. This also includes a high level of restricted speed sections throughout the entire year. Other major drivers of delays were an overall high construction volume in conjunction with a large number of short-term construction measures and very high capacity utilization of the rail infrastructure, especially in the highly utilized bottleneck network.
Facilities quality remained stable in 2024.
Customer satisfaction saw differentiated development in 2024:
- It declined further in the Track business area. Some 230 customers who took part in the survey were even more critical than in the previous year, particularly with regard to construction measures and infrastructure availability.
- It also declined slightly in the Passenger Stations business area (passengers and visitors). The survey is conducted on the basis of about 80,000 interviews per year. The three service areas with the highest proportion of dissatisfied customers are waiting areas/seating options, volume of people and cleanliness.
- In the Passenger Stations business area (TOCs, public transport authorities and Federal states), it was slightly better than in the previous year. TOCs in particular are much more satisfied, especially with the support provided by station management.
- It also fell slightly at tenants. Above all, the speed of processing for support as well as safety, cleanliness and logistics options were rated significantly lower than in 2023.
Performance was roughly on a par with the previous year:
- Train-path demand: Slight overall decline, mainly due to higher strike and construction-related restrictions, lack of economic impetus and vehicle and staff shortages. Demand from non-Group customers increased, which resulted in particular from the takeover of rail freight and regional transport services. A decline was recorded among intra-Group customers, driven by DB Regional and DB Cargo.
- Station stops: Development roughly on a par with the previous year. Due to their overwhelming share of station stops, station stops in regional transport are decisive for the development.
The economic development was overall pleasing, largely driven by the compensation for maintenance measures in the rail infrastructure in 2023 and 2024 by the Federal Government (€ +2.8 billion; offsetting item in material expenses). This also includes the replacement of pre-financings for maintenance measures from the previous year (€ 1.1 billion). Additional burdens, mainly from the expansion of measures to improve quality and availability as well as tariff increases, had a dampening effect. Adjusted profit figures improved significantly and were positive:
- Other operating income (€ +2,574 million): very significant increase, largely driven by the first-time funding of maintenance measures in the rail infrastructure by the Federal Government, also for the previous year. The cost of materials increased in line with the funding for 2024, in some cases in the opposite direction.
- Revenues (+4.0%/€ +311 million): slight increase due to price adjustments. Rental revenues also increased in the Passenger Stations business area. Declines due to the performance trend had a counteracting dampening effect.
On the expense side, there were noticeable additional burdens, particularly for maintenance measures and to improve quality as well as from cost increases:
- Cost of materials (+18.3%/€ +761 million): sharp increase, largely due to significantly expanded maintenance measures to improve the quality and availability of the rail infrastructure. Expenses for maintenance have been partially subsidized by the Federal Government since 2024 (effect in other operating income). In addition, expenses for purchased services increased, including for transport, green care and security and public order services (in particular services provided by DB Security in conjunction with the KRITIS project). Price-related lower expenses for energy had a partially offsetting effect.
- Other operating expenses (+23.1%/€ +538 million): significant increase, largely due to operating and infrastructure-related compensation payments to internal and external TOCs as well as higher project expenses due to higher volumes. There was also an increase in expenses for rents, IT and services.
- Personnel expenses (+10.1%/€ +467 million): Increase mainly due to the higher average number of employees and collective wage agreements.
- Depreciation (+12.1%/€ +101 million): capital expenditure-related increase. Since 2024, capital expenditures in rail infrastructure have also been financed by equity measures by the Federal Government. This leads to higher assets subject to depreciation and, as a result, a generally higher level of depreciation. In contrast to equity-financed capital expenditures, investment grants are deducted directly from the acquisition and production costs of the subsidized assets.
Gross capital expenditures increased noticeably, mainly due to higher capital expenditures in the existing network. DB-financed net capital expenditures (excluding the additional equity increases by the Federal Government) also increased significantly.
The number of employees increased significantly due to additions to cover requirements and succession planning, particularly in respect of maintenance, construction projects and operations.
The proportion of women increased compared to the end of the previous year.
The noise-remediated track kilometers in total increased due to the continued implementation of measures.
Absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions from operations fell further in both business areas compared to 2019. This is due to a decrease in final energy consumption and a lower greenhouse gas intensity of stationary 50 Hz electricity.