TrainAtlasAmong the most delayed train routes for the week of 12-18 July 2026, Germany took more than its share. Below are the German routes running furthest behind schedule, ranked by the typical (median) arrival delay. This page refreshes every week from real arrival data.
4 of this week's 15 most delayed German routes touch Berlin.
The most delayed German train routes this week
| # | Route | Typical delay | Late (5+ min) | Trains |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Berlin SüdkreuzCologne (Berlin Südkreuz to Cologne) | 43min | 97% | 61 |
| 2 | BerlinDüsseldorf (Berlin to Düsseldorf) | 38min | 96% | 68 |
| 3 | NurembergDortmund (Nuremberg to Dortmund) | 31min | 88% | 34 |
| 4 | BerlinCologne (Berlin to Cologne) | 30min | 97% | 38 |
| 5 | MunichHamburg-Altona (Munich to Hamburg-Altona) | 29min | 83% | 96 |
| 6 | StuttgartHamburg (Stuttgart to Hamburg) | 29min | 84% | 43 |
| 7 | BerlinHamm(Westf)Hbf (Berlin to Hamm(Westf)Hbf) | 26min | 100% | 37 |
| 8 | MunichHamburg (Munich to Hamburg) | 26min | 85% | 84 |
| 9 | Hamburg-AltonaBad Schandau (Hamburg-Altona to Bad Schandau) | 25min | 89% | 36 |
| 10 | EssenMunich (Essen to Munich) | 23min | 85% | 72 |
| 11 | HamburgFreiburg(Breisgau) (Hamburg to Freiburg(Breisgau)) | 23min | 76% | 51 |
| 12 | KrefeldRheine (Krefeld to Rheine) | 23min | 87% | 75 |
| 13 | BerlinFreiburg(Breisgau) (Berlin to Freiburg(Breisgau)) | 22min | 88% | 33 |
| 14 | UelzenStendal (Uelzen to Stendal) | 22min | 77% | 100 |
| 15 | Furth im WaldMunich (Furth im Wald to Munich) | 20min | 82% | 49 |
Bars are scaled to the worst route this week. "Typical delay" is the median across every tracked run; "late" is the share arriving 5 or more minutes behind. Only routes running 10 or more minutes late on a typical trip, with at least 25 tracked trains, are listed.
Catch a German train?
This is last week. TrainAtlas tells you about your next one - live delays and platforms for your saved routes, across Deutsche Bahn and 30+ operators.
Why are German trains so delayed?
Three things compound:
- Aging, overloaded infrastructure. Much of the core network is decades old and running near capacity, so there is little slack to absorb a problem before it spreads.
- Record construction. DB is midway through a multi-year programme of full corridor renewals - the Generalsanierung - and the diversions ripple into delays well beyond the works themselves.
- Knock-on cascades. On a dense, mixed-traffic network, one late long-distance train holds up everything behind it, and the delay travels the length of the route.
How we measure this
- Arrival delay, not departure.
- We measure how late a train actually arrives - departure delay understates how late trains really run.
- Median, not average.
- Each route shows the median across every tracked run that week, so one cancelled or extreme train cannot distort the ranking.
- A 25-train floor.
- A route needs at least 25 tracked runs that week to appear, so a single bad day cannot put an obscure route on the board.
TrainAtlas is independent and not affiliated with Deutsche Bahn or any rail operator. These are our own measurements from public data, not official punctuality statistics - operators publish on-time percentages using their own, more generous thresholds, so our median-minutes figure will usually read worse. Data source: Deutsche Bahn / DB InfoGO open data. Spot an error? Tell us and we will correct it and note the change in the archive.
Frequently asked questions
Which German train route is the most delayed right now?
For the week of 12-18 July 2026, the most delayed route was Berlin Südkreuz to Cologne, where the typical train arrived about 43 minutes late and 97% of services ran behind schedule. The list refreshes every week.
How late are German trains this week?
We ranked 51 routes that ran 10 or more minutes late this week. The worst ran a typical 43 minutes behind; delays concentrate on long-distance and regional express lines rather than local services.
Is Deutsche Bahn reliable?
It depends heavily on the route. Local services are usually close to on time, but this week several long-distance corridors ran well behind schedule. This is our own measurement, not an official punctuality statistic.
How is train delay measured here?
We use arrival delay, not departure. Each route shows the median delay across every tracked run that week, plus the share arriving five or more minutes late. A route needs at least 25 tracked trains to appear, and the page updates weekly.