Which German cities have the fewest S-Bahn delays?
The country’s S-Bahn commuter trains run with far fewer delays that Deutsche Bahn’s long-distance services. But there’s still some big differences between German cities when it comes to S-Bahn punctuality. Here’s who comes out on top.
Deutsche Bahn’s delay-riddled long-distance train services haven’t spilled over into S-Bahn and regional services the same way: 92 percent of all S-Bahn and regional services in Germany arrived on time last year, compared with just 65 percent of long-distance trains.
But that average hides some big discrepancies between the top German cities – who have a near-perfect punctuality record – and the bottom of the pack.
For the purposes of Deutsche Bahn’s latest report into punctuality, it considers any long-distance train delayed by at least 15 minutes, as well as any S-Bahn or regional train that’s delayed by at least six minutes, to be late.
READ ALSO: More than a third of German long-distance trains running late
Going by this measure, S-Bahn trains running in Germany’s two largest cities – Berlin and Hamburg – come out on top as being the most punctual in the country.
The two cities tied for first place, with 97.3 of all S-Bahn trains in both cities arriving on time in the second half of 2022.
The country’s other main cities fell quite a bit behind this figure, although Stuttgart still broke the 90 percent mark on punctuality. According to the report, 90.8 percent of all S-Bahn trains in the Baden-Württemberg capital arrived on time in 2022.
That compares with 89.5 percent in Cologne and 87.6 percent in Munich – the country’s third largest city.
Bringing up the rear are S-Bahns operating in the Rhein-Neckar region around Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and Heidelberg. With a punctuality rating of 82.5 percent in the latter half of 2022, almost one in five S-Bahn trains operating there were late during that time.
Berlin’s performance is more impressive given that it is held to higher standards in some cases. For example, rather than using the six-minute threshold, Deutsche Bahn considered trains on the city’s Ringbahn to be late if they were delayed by any more than a minute.
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Deutsche Bahn’s delay-riddled long-distance train services haven’t spilled over into S-Bahn and regional services the same way: 92 percent of all S-Bahn and regional services in Germany arrived on time last year, compared with just 65 percent of long-distance trains.
But that average hides some big discrepancies between the top German cities – who have a near-perfect punctuality record – and the bottom of the pack.
For the purposes of Deutsche Bahn’s latest report into punctuality, it considers any long-distance train delayed by at least 15 minutes, as well as any S-Bahn or regional train that’s delayed by at least six minutes, to be late.
READ ALSO: More than a third of German long-distance trains running late
Going by this measure, S-Bahn trains running in Germany’s two largest cities – Berlin and Hamburg – come out on top as being the most punctual in the country.
The two cities tied for first place, with 97.3 of all S-Bahn trains in both cities arriving on time in the second half of 2022.
The country’s other main cities fell quite a bit behind this figure, although Stuttgart still broke the 90 percent mark on punctuality. According to the report, 90.8 percent of all S-Bahn trains in the Baden-Württemberg capital arrived on time in 2022.
That compares with 89.5 percent in Cologne and 87.6 percent in Munich – the country’s third largest city.
Bringing up the rear are S-Bahns operating in the Rhein-Neckar region around Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and Heidelberg. With a punctuality rating of 82.5 percent in the latter half of 2022, almost one in five S-Bahn trains operating there were late during that time.
Berlin’s performance is more impressive given that it is held to higher standards in some cases. For example, rather than using the six-minute threshold, Deutsche Bahn considered trains on the city’s Ringbahn to be late if they were delayed by any more than a minute.
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