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Berlin (dpa) - Over the holidays this year, due to the Corona crisis, only half as many people traveled by train as in the previous year.
«Between the 23.12.
and the 27.12.
we recorded around 700,000 travelers, ”said Deutsche Bahn.
The occupancy rate on long-distance trains was only around 25 percent on average during this time.
In the days before Christmas, the federally owned company had expected an average occupancy rate of 35 to 40 percent over the holidays.
In the past few years, the occupancy rate at Christmas was on average 70 percent and peaked at up to 100 percent.
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The trains were accordingly on time this year: around 89 percent of them arrived at their destination without any major delay, according to Deutsche Bahn.
Deutsche Bahn counts every train that arrives with a delay of no more than six minutes as punctual.
The group had significantly expanded the offer over Christmas despite the expected low demand due to the restrictions in the Corona crisis: Around 100 additional long-distance trains were in use until Sunday.
When the timetable changed in mid-December, Deutsche Bahn had already put 15 new ICE 4 trains into permanent operation, which increased the number of seats by another 13,000.
In this way, the load should be kept as low as possible during the holidays in order to reduce the risk of infection.
For this purpose, employees at more than a dozen train stations in Germany distributed around 100,000 so-called FFP-2 masks over Christmas, mainly to older and sick travelers.
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In the opinion of Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, Deutsche Bahn must shorten its travel times and quickly expand its rail network.
That would be important, "so that even more passengers can change from the plane to the train," said the CDU politician to the magazine "DB Mobil".
When asked what Deutsche Bahn could do even better, she also replied: "There is still room for improvement when it comes to digitization, because signal and communication technology is currently lagging behind the technical possibilities."
The Chancellor explained that the more efficient use of digital solutions could, as Deutsche Bahn calculated itself, handle around 20 percent more traffic on the network.
"It would also contribute to more punctuality."
Merkel also praised the importance of Deutsche Bahn in the corona pandemic: “The fact that trains run and goods traffic flow is of great importance to our society - the corona pandemic shows us that once again.
During this time, the employees of the Deutsche Bahn are doing an enormous amount for our common good. "
For that she thank them.
"The railway brings working people to work safely and maintains the necessary supply chains."
In addition, the climate targets set will only be achieved with the help of rail transport.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201228-99-831680 / 2