Corona: Travelers are taking the train more often again

Christine Albert studied German linguistics and literature as well as Scandinavian studies at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg. She is currently doing a traineeship at Hubert Burda Media and is writing, among other things, for

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

Whether to the North Sea or in the mountains: Despite the Corona crisis, many are gripped by the desire to travel. Deutsche Bahn also wants to benefit from this and is significantly increasing its range. But everything is far from being the way it was.

Passenger numbers are increasing

With the opening of hotels and restaurants all over Germany, consumers are becoming more willing to travel again in the Corona crisis. "We are noticing that people are starting to be a bit safer and are booking longer-term again," said Berthold Huber, the board member responsible for passenger transport at Deutsche Bahn, on Monday in Berlin.

The number of passengers is increasing again. "We are currently at around 50 percent of the previous year's level," he said, referring to the bookings. On the last holiday weekend alone, more than 750,000 people took the train, around half as many as in the previous year.

What doesn't sound like much is a great relief for the state-owned company. Due to the protective measures against the virus, the number of passengers had plummeted by around 90 percent in the previous weeks. At the same time, however, the railway had only reduced its long-distance service by around a quarter. This had triggered criticism in particular from trade unions, which were concerned about the health of employees.

Capacities should grow

With a view to the regular customers, the maintenance of a large part of the offer can be justified above all from an entrepreneurial point of view, emphasized Huber on Monday. "We generate 50 million euros in sales through Bahncard customers alone." All in all, regular customers account for 40 to 45 percent of total sales in passenger transport. However, they only remained loyal to the company if they continued to offer an offer.

In view of the increasing demand, capacities should now grow again quickly: ICE double trains would again run on particularly popular city connections such as from Berlin to the Ruhr area and from there to southern Germany. In the crisis, the second train was left out. From the beginning of June an ICE sprinter train will also commute between Berlin and Munich. Another will be added in mid-June, it said.

Germany's neighboring countries can be reached again

Almost the entire range will be offered to Austria and Switzerland with immediate effect. This means that all of Germany's neighboring countries can be reached again by long-distance transport in the summer. In regional traffic nationwide, there are already around 95 percent of the offer, said Huber.

But the federally owned company still has a long way to go on the way back to normality. This can be seen not only in the still low number of passengers, but also in the safety precautions that the railways have to take in the midst of the crisis. This includes, for example, the urgent recommendation to wear mouth and nose covers on trains.

Warning of full trains at 50 percent capacity

In order to distribute the passengers as widely as possible on different trains, the company is also adapting the occupancy display in the train app, which passengers can use to book their journeys. From now on, trains that are already 50 percent fully booked are to be displayed as full. If the bookings continue to rise, ticket sales could also be suspended, it said. However, there should still not be a reservation requirement. "Such an obligation does not per se mean that the trains are less busy," said Huber.

Demand: extend goodwill rules

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations criticized on Monday that the occupancy indicator did not always work well. It only refers to the entire route, but not to parts of the route, the association announced. This sometimes led to false reports: "Highly used trains were sometimes empty and vice versa."

The association also called for an expansion of the goodwill rules for customers. Since the beginning of May, Deutsche Bahn has no longer offered travel vouchers for trips that were not started due to the Corona crisis, but the possibility of making up for the trip by the end of October. "For many too short-term and not possible," said the consumer advice center. "We are concerned with extending the grace period." (approx / dpa)

Tags:  magazine dental care stress