Deutsche Bahn's Decade of Disruption

Germany's state rail operator books a second consecutive billion-euro loss, with no quick fix in sight

Deutsche Bahn ended 2025 with a net loss of 2.3 billion euros, widening from 1.8 billion euros the previous year, as decades of underinvestment in Germany's rail network continued to erode the group's finances and test the patience of its passengers.

The headline figure was heavily shaped by a 1.4 billion euro impairment charge at DB Long-Distance, reflecting reduced revenue expectations tied to an infrastructure backlog that the company now openly concedes will take at least a decade to resolve. Strip out that writedown and the underlying picture is modestly better: adjusted operating profit improved by 630 million euros to reach a positive 297 million euros.

CEO Evelyn Palla, appointed to lead the group's turnaround, offered no comfort to commuters. She said it would take at least ten years to return German railways to good shape and described the impairment as a necessary act of accounting honesty rather than corporate failure. The message landed bluntly with Germany's transport minister Patrick Schnieder, who had already pushed back the network's 70 percent punctuality target for long-distance services from 2026 to 2029.

In February 2026, just 59.4% of long-distance trains met the on-time threshold. Cancellations, which are excluded from punctuality statistics, compound the reality facing passengers.

DB Cargo, the freight division, remains the group's most troubled unit, posting the only negative operating result across the business and facing an EU state aid investigation that has prompted plans to cut roughly half its German workforce.

For Berlin, the scale of the challenge is now undeniable. Combined investment by the federal government and Deutsche Bahn is projected to exceed 23 billion euros in 2026, but with corridor modernisations now scheduled through to 2036, the construction disruption is, by design, structural. The network will get worse before it gets better, and Germany's political class is increasingly being asked to own that reality.