Deutsche Bahn introduces family tickets permanently – problems with punctuality remain

Berlin. Deutsche Bahn wants to offer the family ticket permanently. Bahn boss Evelyn Palla announced this in “Bild am Sonntag”. A return trip for a family costs 99.99 euros including ICE reservation.

“We have decided to permanently add the family ticket, which we initially introduced temporarily for the summer holidays, to the range,” said Palla. During the summer holidays, the offer caused a significant increase: “We were able to welcome 100,000 more families on board our trains than last year.”

The family ticket will be offered permanently from November 1st. According to Pallas, sales begin on October 26th – with the same conditions and including reservations. During this year's summer holidays, the federally owned Deutsche Bahn offered a flat-rate ticket for families.

With regard to the punctuality of the train, Palla dampened expectations. The rail network has been neglected for many years. "Much of our systems are too old, too prone to failure and fail too often. We can only renew the system piece by piece and cannot catch up in one or two years what has been missed for many years," said Palla.

Particularly hot summers exacerbated the problems. "Many systems are not designed to withstand temperatures of over 35 degrees for several days. Switch drives, for example, then fail," said Palla. "Everything should have been replaced a long time ago. That didn't happen, and now we are experiencing the consequences," said the railway boss.

“Therefore there will be no quick jump in punctuality,” emphasized Palla. The renovation of the rail network will take at least ten years: "Only when we have renewed a large part of the systems will there be noticeable improvements. And that won't happen overnight."