Hundreds of thousands also rose over Pentecost in ICE and Intercity. Gradually, customers return to the railroad. The distance does not always work.
Berlin (dpa) - After the deep slump in the corona crisis, more people are traveling by train again. "We are seeing a gradual recovery in passenger numbers," long-distance traffic chief Michael Peterson said on Tuesday.
On the long Pentecost weekend, 750,000 ICE and Intercity passengers rose, about half as many as a year ago. There were also about 750,000 passengers on the Ascension weekend.
At the peak of the Corona restrictions, passenger numbers had dropped by around 90 percent. Because the rush is still below average, delays are comparatively rare. 86.3 percent of all long-distance trains were on time in May - that is, they arrived less than six minutes after the timetable. The rate was 6.5 percentage points better than in May 2019.
In order for the passengers to be able to keep their distance, the train app and website already showed that trains were in high demand at Pentecost when half of the seats were booked. This helps make travel by train predictable, Peterson said. "Those who were able to organize their trip flexibly had the opportunity to switch to less demanded connections in good time."
"On the whole, it works," said the chairman of the Pro Bahn passenger association, Detlef Neuss. On main routes, the distance at Pentecost was nevertheless only partially successful. The utilization indicator does not show if additional passengers with tickets without a train connection board.
"We cannot yet keep that distance properly," Neuss summed up. Often it was enough to go a few cars to find more vacancies. He also advised passengers to get on at the beginning or end of the train and check beforehand in the train app which wagon had the fewest seats reserved.
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