Deutsche Bahn passenger numbers rise in 2014

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Passenger numbers rose by 10 million in the first half of 2014 to just over one billion, Deutsche Bahn (DB) has announced.

Publishing its financial performance for the year to date, DB said that although overall passenger numbers and punctuality had improved, distance travelled had actually fallen, decreasing by 0.4 per cent to 42.9 billion passenger kilometers.

Ticket sales have risen by 1.9 per cent on the previous year to €19.7 billion and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) has increased by €70 million to €1.09 billion.

 

“There is no cause for euphoria… many challenges still lie ahead,”

 

DB chief executive Dr Rüdiger Grube said: “In economic terms, the first six months of this year are positive.”

He added: “The punctuality has developed positively. In the first half of the year, 95.6 per cent of all passenger trains of the DB were on time at the destination. ”

Although the figures show positive signs, DB’s chief financial officer, Dr Richard Lutz, was cautious about the future. He said “there is no cause for euphoria” and that “many challenges still lie ahead”.

“The increasing intensity of competition in our markets, infrastructure financing in Germany and now the upcoming wage negotiations remain key issues for our sustainable business success,” added Lutz.

Freight performance, as well as passenger traffic, rose in the first half of 2014 by 489 million tonne-kilometres (tkm) to 52.1 billion tkm.

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