BERLIN, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- 99 percent of all long-distance trains operated by Germany's rail company Deutsche Bahn (DB) were in service without cancellations in 2018, it announced on Tuesday.
Canceled long-distance train connections totaled 3,500 in 2018. According to DB, technical and operational problems as well as extraordinary circumstances, such as thunderstorms, high temperatures, accidents as well as strike actions, were the main reasons for train cancellations.
In 2018, DB passengers had to endure an increasing number of delayed arrivals and departures. Every fourth long-distance train was delayed, and the average figure for punctuality fell by 3.6 percentage points below the previous year's figure.
DB expects to prevent train cancellations and delays by employing more train drivers and technicians. This year, the company plans to hire an additional 22,000 staff, following 24,000 new recruitments in 2018.
"If train cancellations result in delays of one hour or more for passengers, DB will, of course, pay appropriate compensation within the framework of passenger rights," it pledged.
At the end of 2018, DB increased ticket prices for long-distance routes by 0.9 percent on average. Affecting about one in five local transport customers, ticket prices for Intercity (IC) and Intercity Express (ICE) trains went up by 1.9 percent on average.
According to German newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), in 2018 DB surpassed the record number of 142 million passengers it carried in 2017.
DB's revenues from its long-distance passenger services went up by almost 300 million euros (343 million U.S. dollars) to around 4.5 billion euros in 2018, WAZ reported. The final balance sheet figures will be published by Deutsche Bahn in March.
