After massive criticism

Deutsche Bahn on EM chaos: “We got everything out of it!”

"The maximum was made of the rail system here, but the possibilities were limited by an outdated and overloaded infrastructure."

(Bild: APA/dpa/Boris Rössler)

Deutsche Bahn (DB) has drawn a mixed conclusion about its performance during the European Football Championship, particularly with regard to punctuality! "We got the maximum out of the rail system, but the possibilities were limited by an outdated and overloaded infrastructure," the rail company said.

In addition, train services were affected by flood damage for several weeks, especially on the north-south route. "Several hundred ICE trains per day had to be rerouted, extending travel times by 30 to 60 minutes," it said.

Hundreds of Austrian fans stranded in Bavaria
Deutsche Bahn was criticized several times during the tournament for its performance. Just this week, the Dutch team had to travel to the semi-finals by plane instead of train due to a last-minute train failure. At the beginning of the tournament, hundreds of Austrian fans were temporarily stranded in Bavaria because a construction site was not completed on time as planned. Tournament boss Philipp Lahm missed the kick-off of a match in the group phase due to rail problems.

The railroad company acknowledged problems several times and apologized to passengers. "We weren't quite up to speed, our services didn't run smoothly during the European Championships," said rail spokeswoman Anja Bröker in a television interview a week ago.

"No significant incidents on trains or at stations!"
DB's own assessment of safety is positive. According to the German state-owned company, there were "no significant incidents on trains or at stations". Accordingly, 5,400 DB security staff were on duty at the stations and on the trains. Twelve million passengers traveled on DB's ICE and IC trains during the European Championships. The European Championship trophy also traveled by train and was transported by rail to the final in Berlin.