Deutsche Bahn CEO slams management's 'organized irresponsibility' as punctuality languishes at 58.7%

Management culture under fire

Deutsche Bahn CEO Evelyn Palla, who took office in October 2025, delivered an unusually sharp critique of her own management in an interview with Welt am Sonntag published on Sunday. She said the state-owned railway's past performance culture was insufficient and that too much energy had been spent explaining problems rather than solving them. "The performance culture of the past was not sufficient for the Bahn's performance, and we want to change that," Palla said. She described a pattern of shifting responsibility between central administration and operational units on the ground, calling it 'organized irresponsibility' that must end.

That was ultimately something like organized irresponsibility. That must be a thing of the past.

Palla stressed that punctuality begins with clear and transparent allocation of responsibility in the right place. She added that performance must start at the top, with herself and the executive board, who must embody and model the change.

Punctuality misses target

The Bahn's long-distance punctuality stood at just 58.7% in the first half of 2026, well below the company's own target of at least 60% for the full year. A train is counted as delayed if it arrives six minutes or more behind schedule, and cancellations are not included in the operational punctuality measure. Palla acknowledged the figure was "not a good value" and said there was no need to sugarcoat it. However, she noted that in three-quarters of cases delays were under 15 minutes, and cautioned against talking the railway down more than it deserves.

Even if we are not yet satisfied overall, we must not always talk Deutsche Bahn worse than it is.

She gave the company a school grade of 4 minus for reliability, but an overall grade of 3, arguing that the railway is often judged solely on long-distance punctuality, which paints only half the picture.

Restructuring and shifting responsibility

Palla has launched a corporate overhaul that includes slimming the central office and shifting responsibility to regional units. She said many administrative layers have been cut, but that alone does not make a better railway. Real change will only come when management changes and responsibility is actually taken up and lived in the decentralized units. "Performance starts at the very top: first with myself. Then with the executive board. We are the first level that must embody and model this," she said.

Long road to recovery

Palla described the Bahn as being in the deepest crisis in its corporate history. The overhaul of the dilapidated rail network is expected to take a decade. She set 2035, the railway's 200th anniversary, as the year by which the worst should be behind it.

2035 is the year the Bahn celebrates its 200th anniversary, and that should also be the year in which we have the worst behind us.