Development in the year under review
- Increased revenue from price and volume effects.
- Higher expenses, mainly for personnel and maintenance, hindered operating profit development.
- Gross capital expenditures increased on a high level.
DB Netze Track | 2018 | 2017 | Change | 2016 | ||
absolute | % | |||||
Punctuality DB Group (rail) in Germany (%) | 93,4 | 93,9 | – | – | 94,3 | |
Punctuality (rail) in Germany 1) (%) | 92,9 | 93,6 | – | – | 93,9 | |
Customer satisfaction (SI) | 64 | 67 | – | – | 69 | |
| Length of line operated as of Dec 31 (km) | 33.299 | 33.348 | –49 | –0,1 | 33.241 | |
Train kilometers on track infrastructure (million train-path km) | 1.084 | 1.072 | + 12 | + 1,1 | 1.066 | |
thereof non-Group railways | 349,2 | 331,3 | + 17,9 | + 5,4 | 321,9 | |
Share of non-Group railways (%) | 32,2 | 30,9 | – | – | 30,2 | |
| Total revenues (€ million) | 5.511 | 5.364 | + 147 | + 2,7 | 5.228 | |
| External revenues (€ million) | 1.559 | 1.522 | + 37 | + 2,4 | 1.408 | |
Share of total revenues (%) | 28.3 | 28.4 | – | – | 26,9 | |
| EBITDA adjusted (€ million) | 1,446 | 1,484 | – 38 | – 2.6 | 1,484 | |
| EBIT adjusted (€ million) | 840 | 687 | + 153 | + 22.3 | 561 | |
| Operating income after interest (€ million) | 634 | 442 | + 192 | + 43.4 | 311 | |
ROCE (%) | 4.6 | 3.8 | – | – | 3.1 | |
| Capital employed as of Dec 31 (€ million) | 18,172 | 17,866 | + 306 | + 1.7 | 17,821 | |
Net financial debt as of Dec 31 (€ million) | 9,499 | 9,386 | + 113 | + 1.2 | 10,396 | |
Redemption coverage (%) | 13.9 | 14.0 | – | – | 12.7 | |
Gross capital expenditures (€ million) | 6,901 | 6,601 | + 300 | + 4.5 | 6,226 | |
Net capital expenditures (€ million) | 564 | 660 | – 96 | – 14.5 | 688 | |
Employees as of Dec 31 (FTE) | 46,969 | 45,375 | + 1,594 | + 3.5 | 43,974 | |
Employee satisfaction (SI) | 3.7 | – | – | – | 3.7 | |
Employee satisfaction – follow-up workshop implementation rate (%) | – | 99,1 | – | – | – | |
Share of women in Germany as of Dec 31 (%) | 19.2 | 18.8 | – | – | 18.6 | |
Track kilometers noise remediated in total as of Dec 31 (km) | 1,758 | 1,701 | +57 | +3.4 | 1,598 | |
1) Non-Group and DB intra-Group TOCs.
The heavily utilized infrastructure and the high level of external interference led to a decrease in punctuality in the year under review.
Customer satisfaction also worsened. To assess this, about 240 customers are asked each year about their satisfaction with all of the services offered to them. Customers were particularly critical on infrastructure availability and construction works.
Train kilometers on track infrastructure increased primarily in the wake of higher demand from non-Group customers (especially in freight and regional transport) and from DB Long-Distance. Lower demand from intra-Group freight transport customers had the opposite effect.
However, economic development was modest overall. In particular, higher personnel and maintenance expenses exceeded the positive income development, meaning that the adjusted EBITDAwas slightly below that of the previous year. Adjusted EBIT showed positive development due to lower depreciation.
- Total revenues developed positively as a consequence of increases in demand and price effects.
- Other operating income (+ 9.4%) increased, partly due to increased income from the disposal of property, plant and equipment (sale of real estate), and larger refund of expenses for projects and scrap.
Expenses recorded significant additional liabilities:
- Cost of materials (+ 5.2%) rose significantly as a result of increased expenses for quality measures, remediation of damage caused by weather and higher expenses for preventative measures against weather risks.
- Personnel expenses (+ 6.5%) increased as a result of collective bargaining agreements and the higher number of employees.
- The increase in other operational expenses (+ 4.5%) resulted, inter alia, from an increase in services, IT and rent as a result of volume effects. In addition, higher project expenses and price effects had an impact.
- Depreciation (– 24.0%) decreased significantly, primarily due to the reassessment of economic useful lives.
Operating income after interest also improved, further supported by lower interest expenses, which led to an improvement in net operating interest.
ROCE improved in the wake of positive EBIT development, despite being burdened by a slight increase in capital employed.
Net financial debt slightly exceeded the value at the end of the previous year, inter alia as a result of negative working capital effects. As a result, redemption coverage decreased slightly.
The volume of capital expenditures in the existing network increased significantly. As a consequence of the increase in investment grants, net capital expenditures dropped.
The number of employees increased significantly because of strategies to cover demand and ensure succession planning, particularly in the areas of maintenance, construction projects and operations.
Employee satisfaction is measured every two years. The satisfaction index remained stable.
The share of women rose slightly during the year under review.
Within the framework of the noise remediation program we also carried out noise remediation measures on additional lines in the year under review.