New passenger rights for delays and refunds

Delays are a tiresome topic for Deutsche Bahn and all travelers. A new EU regulation now regulates the compensation for passengers. We will show you what passenger rights at Deutsche Bahn will look like in the future.

The punctuality of Deutsche Bahn has decreased significantly in recent years. In 2020, 81.8 percent of the Long-distance connections in Germany on timethe rate decreased noticeably thereafter.

In 2021, only 75.1 percent of long-distance trains were on time, and in 2022 only 65.2 percent. This is often an annoying problem for the passengers, but they are often entitled to compensation.

However, these will change from June 7th, as the EU recast regulation “On the rights and obligations of passengers in rail transport”.

New passenger rights at Deutsche Bahn

So far it didn’t matter why a train was late. The rule of thumb was: If you are one hour late, you get 25 percent of the fare back, and if you are two hours late, you get 50 percent.

These numbers will remain the same in the future, but travelers are not automatically entitled to compensation. Because the new version of the EU regulation now states that railway companies are not obliged to pay compensation in the event of a “delay due to extraordinary circumstances”.

What circumstances does the EU consider exceptional?

With exceptional circumstances, the EU provides for cases over which a railway company has no control. These include, among other things, “extreme weather conditions or major natural disasters that would jeopardize the safe operation of the transport service”.

According to the ordinance, however, what is meant are “extraordinary natural disasters” that are to be distinguished from “normal seasonal weather conditions”.

The adapted EU regulation also excludes serious public crises such as pandemics. Delays caused by passengers or “certain actions by third parties” should no longer be reimbursable in the future.

Passenger rights: How is Deutsche Bahn reacting to the changes?

But where is the line drawn between a severe onset of winter and an “extraordinary natural disaster”?

According to Marketing Director Stefanie Berk, compensation will continue to be paid in the event of “ordinary storms”. These are “explicitly excluded”, she explains to him Mirror. However, the railway also wants to find accommodating regulations for extraordinary natural events such as the flood in the Ahr Valley in 2021.

However, in future there will be no compensation for cable theft, emergencies on the train or people on the track. However, these problems would only account for a “vanishingly small proportion of passenger rights cases”.

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