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SBB remains Europe's punctuality champion – almost 99 per cent of trains reached their destination on time in 2024. Image: Facebook / SBB

Swiss trains are the most punctual in Europe

SBB remains Europe's punctuality queen: 99 per cent of Swiss long-distance trains arrived at their destinations on time in 2024. In stark contrast, Deutsche Bahn continues to descend into chaos. Only 62 per cent of its trains were on time last year.

In 2024, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) defended its position as Europe's most punctual railway. An analysis by the «Reisereporter» travel magazine in collaboration with the independent portal zugfinder.net shows that almost 99 per cent of SBB long-distance trains reached their destination on time last year. This means that Switzerland has once again secured the top spot in Europe.

Belgium ranks just behind Switzerland, with an impressive punctuality rate of 96 percent, followed by the Netherlands, whose trains ran on time about 91 percent of the time.

While Switzerland is regarded as a model of reliability, the picture looks quite different for Deutsche Bahn (DB). According to an analysis by zugfinder.net, in 2024, only around 62 percent of DB's long-distance trains reached their destination on time – a sobering result. A long-distance train is considered punctual if it arrives with less than six minutes of delay.

What was particularly concerning for Deutsche Bahn was the situation during the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship. Despite the influx of international guests traveling by train across Germany, punctuality plummeted to catastrophic levels. In June, only 53.6 percent of long-distance trains reached their destination on time – a disappointing low point.

(RSU)

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