The customer is at the centerof our actions

We are working on issues that are material to us and our stake­­holders. You can find an overview of our material sus­­tainability themes in the chapter “To our stakeholders.”

There are a number of levers that increase product quality, but for us, improving punctuality is the most important starting point. Other important levers include the use of modern vehicles, reliable and comprehensive customer and transport information, the quality and reliability of services offered, as well as reasonable travel and transport times. That is why we continually invest in our fleet and infrastructure and optimize cooperation with our suppliers and sector partners. We place a strong emphasis on tapping into the opportunities of digitalization. The majority of our initiatives for increasing product quality and improving customer satisfaction are linked with our Agenda for a Better Railway and the Operational Excellence (OPEX) program.

We place customers at the center of our actions. Customer satisfaction is therefore the most crucial indicator of our service quality. It provides us with the insights we need to determine concrete measures for improvement. In addition to the various aspects of product quality, the continuous optimization of the price-performance ratio and product innovations, especially in the context of digitalization, are the main levers for increasing customer satisfaction. We work extremely hard to provide a high-quality basic service and focus on optimizing product and service quality. We offer our customers comprehensive services for their information needs. Our goal is to provide our mobility and logistics solutions at a reasonable price-performance ratio in order to meet the expectations of our customers. The focus is on measures that increase the quality of our ser­­vices and the efficiency of our processes. In order to as­­sess the success of our measures from the customer’s perspective, we use direct indicators such as revenue and the number of customers. In addition to this we use the results of regular surveys to measure our success and find potential areas for improvement.

Some particularly important indicators of customer satis­faction include passenger satisfaction levels for passen­­ger transport and infrastructure (stations) and the satisfaction levels of freight transport and logistics customers. We measure success based on the targets achieved along the development path defined in our strategy DB2020+.

Punctuality is a central component of our performance promise. Internal punctuality controls are based on lost units (number of delayed trains). To measure punctuality, we compare the target arrival time to the actual time for every train run. A stop is considered on time if the sched­­uled arrival time is exceeded by less than six minutes in passenger transport or less than 16 minutes in freight transport. We summarize the arrival of trains on schedule or up to a defined maximum delay using a degree of punctuality. The figures are recorded daily and made available online to the executives and employees involved in punctuality management. In addition, punctuality data, together with the associated indicators, are prepared regularly and used by the Group Management Board to determine what currently needs to be acted upon and where decisions are required. Punctuality is the key indicator of product quality and is a determining factor in calculating the variable remuneration amount for executives of the integrated rail system.

The performance capability and capacity of the infrastructure also has a significant influence on quality and punctuality. Capital expenditures for maintaining a high- performance infrastructure form the subject matter of the LuFV II. Alongside maintain­­ing the existing infra­­­­structure, optimizing available capac­­ity during construction work, in­­creas­­ing capacity and the digitalization of infrastructure are also very important for the performance capability of the infrastructure and thus for infrastructure users. Together with the Federal Government, we are working on a range of comprehensive measures.

Interlinked mobility is the combination of different modes of transport in order to individualize the design of the mobility and transport chain; this is made possible by the digital information service for travel and transport planning. For us, interlinked mobility is crucial in order to offer our customers individualized and tailored solutions. Digi­talization offers new opportunities to provide innovative services. Existing combined services, such as our door-to-door mobility portfolio for passenger transport (Flinkster no. 7 and Call a Bike no. 14) are being steadily developed to future mobility platforms, such as autonomous driving, on-demand transport services and platforms for customers to use these services in future. We are developing new approaches, including as part of our New Mobility ecosystem. Within logistics, we are driving forward new forms of mobility, including through our truck platooning project.