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Deutsche Bahn Posts First Half‑Year Profit Since 2019

The €147 million H1 2026 result marks a tentative turn driven by higher ridership, promotional pricing and early cost cuts with heavy investment raising net debt.

Overview

  • The company reported a €147 million net profit for the first half of 2026 on Thursday, supported by an adjusted operating result of about €415 million and revenue of €13.6 billion.
  • Passenger journeys rose to roughly 960 million in H1 2026, a gain the company attributes mainly to high fuel prices and targeted discounts such as last‑minute tickets, family fares and youth BahnCards.
  • Punctuality and network condition remain weak, with long‑distance on‑time stops around 52.6% in June and thousands of simultaneous track works slowing services.
  • Record half‑year investments of about €8.7 billion have pushed DB’s net debt back up to roughly €21.6 billion even as management pursues a decentralizing restructuring called DB 2035 and cuts corporate costs.
  • DB Cargo is still loss‑making by about €1 million and must return to profit under threat of EU action, a situation that leaves the overall turnaround fragile and keeps political and union attention on near‑term service gains and freight fixes.