Quality
The customer is at the center of our actions
High product quality is one of the most important prerequisites for implementing our Strong Rail strategy. Among the biggest levers for increasing product quality is the high quality and reliability of the services offered. This includes a high level of punctuality, use of modern vehicles, reliable and comprehensive customer and transport information as well as appropriate transport times. That is why we continually invest in our fleet and infrastructure, and optimize cooperation with our suppliers and sector partners. Opportunities offered by digitalization are being exploited.
Improving punctuality is particularly important as it is the key factor influencing customer satisfaction and therefore makes a positive contribution to meeting our customer needs, also in the context of increasing mobility needs.
Only if our services are rendered sustainably with a high degree of punctuality will passengers use our services in the long term and thus contribute to a sustainable transport transition. Increasing unpunctuality makes it harder for our customers to plan and carry out business and private trips. If customer satisfaction decreases due to a lack of operational quality, this can lead to a decline in passenger numbers. Punctuality is also the key factor in the stability of production systems. Particularly in long-distance and freight transport, unpunctuality leads to disrupted vehicle and personnel circulation, which in turn has a negative impact on maintenance processes. From an economic point of view, a high level of punctuality also minimizes the risk of contractual penalties in local transport and compensation via passenger rights in long-distance transport.
The importance of punctuality is taken into account by the fact that it is one of the determining factors for the amount of variable remuneration received by executives.
Development in the year under review
| Customer satisfaction / grade | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DB Long-Distance | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| DB Regional (rail) | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.2 |
| DB Regional (bus) | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.2 |
| DB Cargo | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.7 |
| DB InfraGO (stations; passengers/visitors) | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.4 |
One of DB Group’s top targets is to achieve a consistently high level of customer satisfaction. In passenger transport, in addition to the development of operational key indicators such as punctuality and capacity utilization, ticket purchase, offering, seat availability, comfort and providing information, play an important role. Regular measuring of customer satisfaction is hugely important. The results of the entire travel experience are examined in regular performance dialogs aimed at ensuring an improvement in customer satisfaction. The data is gathered in each case anonymously by independent market research institutes. We aim to conduct a direct survey in connection with the trip to better evaluate the links between purchasing decisions and reuse. The identified drivers of satisfaction are ranked against each other. DB Cargo’s customer satisfaction survey was conducted in the spring of the corresponding year.
Details on the development of customer satisfaction in the individual business units can be found in the chapter Development of the business units.
Punctuality
| Punctuality / % | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DB Group (rail) in Germany | 89.4 | 90.1 | 90.9 |
| DB rail passenger transport in Germany | 89.5 | 90.3 | 91.0 |
| DB Long-Distance | 62.5 | 64.0 | 65.2 |
| DB Regional 1) | 90.7 | 91.4 | 92.2 |
| DB Cargo (Germany) | 68.0 | 70.5 | 66.1 |
| DB Regional (bus) | 85.9 | 85.2 | 86.0 |
| DB Cargo | 68.2 | 69.7 | 66.3 |
| Punctuality (whole journey) (DB Long-Distance) | 67.4 | 68.9 | 69.3 |
To measure punctuality, we compare the target arrival time to the actual arrival time for every performed train/bus run. We summarize the arrival of trains/buses on schedule or up to a defined maximum delay in the punctuality rate.
1) Adjusted to third-weighted representation (S-Bahn (metro) alternating current, S-Bahn (metro) direct current, DB Regional Rail without S-Bahn (metro)).
Punctuality in rail transport in Germany has continued to decline despite intensive management of operational quality. The reasons for this development were:
- Poor condition of facilities
- Intensive construction activity and short-term construction planning processes
- High traffic density
- Staff shortages
- Lack of system robustness
- Other events
Significant measures for improvement
To improve and stabilize the quality of operations, we initiated and implemented a number of measures in 2024. These measures also intervene in the operating processes and attempt to achieve a sustainable increase in quality via paradigm shifts, among other things. This also means that the effect of these measures is often only likely to be felt in the medium to long term. In addition, the effect of measures that have already been implemented is partly overcompensated by negative structural and individual effects.
Focus on digitalization and technology
We aim to make DB Group more modern, more environmentally friendly and more attractive through our activities in the areas of digitalization and technology.
The following topics are a particular focus:
- Digital rail operations and the digitalization of production, because they are aimed at making us more operationally robust through automated schedule planning and disposition, for example.
- Digital maintenance, for example, because it should make us more effective through more efficient materials management and forward-looking planning.
- The “green” rail technology because it is intended to make us “greener,” for example by making rail operations more low-emission and environmentally friendly.