Long-distance ridership increased 1.3% year-on-year to a record 71.8% and DB says it is on course to carry 150 million passengers on IC and ICE services in 2019.
DB has made headway in addressing its punctuality problems in the long-distance sector, with 77.2% of trains arriving on schedule in the first half of this year, up from 74.9% in the first half of 2018 and ahead of DB’s 76.5% target.
Adjusted Ebit dropped 22% to €757m, which DB attributes primarily to investment in additional measures to improve quality and performance. Lutz says this will pay off financially and supports the growth targets set in the Strong Rail strategy unveiled last month.
Demand for train paths on the German main line network increased 0.6% to 543 million train-km, while the percentage of non-DB operators using the network increased from 31.9% to 33.1%.
DB’s net financial debt stood at €25.4bn on June 30, up from €19.5bn on December 31 2018. DB says the increase was largely due to the introduction of new accounting standards, which require the inclusion of operating leases in debt figures. Excluding these leases, DB says its net financial debt would rise only slightly this year to around €20bn.
DB is maintaining its full year forecast for a group Ebit of at least €1.9bn and record full-year earnings of more than €45bn.
“DB is making extensive investments with a lasting impact on all our business units, with a clear focus on rail operations in Germany,” says DB CFO Mr Alexander Doll. “As a result, net capital expenditure remained at a very high level in the first half of 2019 and is expected to increase to more than €5.5bn - the highest in DB's history - by the end of the year.
