TrainAtlasAmong the most delayed train routes for the week of 11-17 October 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.
5 of this week's 15 most delayed German routes touch Düsseldorf.
Operator correction, 19 October: this is a multi-operator source sample, not an all-DB ranking. Native NX, VIA and FLX service labels identify National Express, VIAS and FlixTrain. Mixed samples list all supported labels; generic RE/RB/IC categories remain operator unverified. Route samples and ranking thresholds are unchanged. See the European top ten and coverage.
The most delayed German train routes that week
| # | Route | Typical delay | Late (5+ min) | Trains |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CologneBerlin (Cologne to Berlin)Deutsche Bahn (ICE) / FlixTrain | 37min | 89% | 54 |
| 2 | WeselKoblenz (Wesel to Koblenz)National Express | 32min | 93% | 109 |
| 3 | Arnhem CentraalDüsseldorf (Arnhem Centraal to Düsseldorf)VIAS | 25min | 95% | 110 |
| 4 | BocholtDüsseldorf (Bocholt to Düsseldorf)VIAS | 25min | 94% | 108 |
| 5 | Hamburg-AltonaCologne (Hamburg-Altona to Cologne)Deutsche Bahn (ICE) | 25min | 90% | 31 |
| 6 | StuttgartAulendorf (Stuttgart to Aulendorf)Operator unverified | 25min | 96% | 56 |
| 7 | DortmundMunich (Dortmund to Munich)Deutsche Bahn (ICE) | 24min | 79% | 70 |
| 8 | DüsseldorfEmmerich-Elten (Düsseldorf to Emmerich-Elten)VIAS | 23min | 85% | 119 |
| 9 | EmmerichDüsseldorf (Emmerich to Düsseldorf)VIAS | 23min | 85% | 27 |
| 10 | RheineKrefeld (Rheine to Krefeld)National Express | 23min | 82% | 82 |
| 11 | CologneBerlin Gesundbrunnen (Cologne to Berlin Gesundbrunnen)Deutsche Bahn (ICE) | 22min | 86% | 50 |
| 12 | CuxhavenHamburg-Harburg (Cuxhaven to Hamburg-Harburg)Operator unverified | 22min | 80% | 44 |
| 13 | KrefeldMünster(Westf)Hbf (Krefeld to Münster(Westf)Hbf)National Express | 21min | 73% | 30 |
| 14 | BerlinDüsseldorf (Berlin to Düsseldorf)Deutsche Bahn (ICE) / FlixTrain | 21min | 86% | 42 |
| 15 | MunichHamburg-Altona (Munich to Hamburg-Altona)Deutsche Bahn (ICE) | 20min | 72% | 87 |
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: piebro German rail arrival archive, retaining native service labels. Spot an error? Tell us and we will correct it and note the change in the archive.