Our targets

Other important levers for increasing product quality include the use of more modern vehicles, reliable and comprehensive customer and transport information, the quality and reliability of services offered, as well as reasonable travel and transport times. That is why we continually invest in our fleet and infrastructure and optimize cooperation with our suppliers and sector partners. We also place a strong emphasis on tapping into the opportunities of digitalization. Our initiatives for increasing product quality and improving customer satisfaction are an important part of the plan to implement our strategy.

Regular evaluation of customer satisfaction is hugely important to us. The surveys are conducted anonymously and by independent market research institutes.

Our target is the further increase of customer satisfaction:

• >80 SI at DB Long-Distance
• >75 SI at DB Regional
• >70 SI at DB Cargo

The current development of our  customer satisfaction can be found in our Integrated Report.

For us, increasing punctuality is the most important lever for improving product quality. Internal punctuality controls are based on lost units (number of delays). To measure punctuality, we compare the target arrival time to the actual arrival time for every train/bus run. A stop is considered on time if the scheduled arrival time is exceeded by less than six minutes in passenger transport or less than 16 minutes in freight transport. We summarize the arrival of trains/buses on schedule or up to a defined maximum delay using a degree of punctuality. In addition, since 2020, DB Regional Bus has also evaluated buses that have been operated more than one minute too early as not punctual, with retroactive effect.

The figures are recorded daily and are made available to executives and employees online, together with the lost units and other management key figures, allowing measures to be taken to manage the situation. In addition, punctuality data, together with the associated indicators, are prepared regularly and used by the Management Board to determine what currently needs to be acted upon and where decisions are required. Punctuality is the key indicator of product quality at a Group level in terms of the Strong Rail strategy, and is a determining factor in calculating the variable compensation amount for executives at DB Group.

Our target is the improvement of the operational punctuality:

• >80% at DB Long-Distance
• >95% at DB Regional
• >77% at DB Cargo

The current punctuality development can be found in our Integrated Report.

For us, climate protection means: Being climate neutral by 2040. We are relying on three powerful levers: expanding green electricity, phasing out diesel, and embarking on the heat transition.

We have set ourselves ambitious milestones on the path to climate neutrality by 2040.

• We will be powering our depots, office buildings and stations in Germany with 100 % green electricity from 2025.
• By 2030, we will increase the share of renewable energies in the DB traction current mix to 80 percent and reduce emissions of direct and indirect greenhouse gases from purchased energy (Scope 1 to 2) by 34 percent compared to 2019. 
• We will convert our traction current to 100 % green electricity by 2038. We have already achieved this goal for our long-distance services: Customers on these trains in Germany have been able to enjoy journeys powered exclusively by green electricity since 2018.

We are committed to the diversity and preservation of animal and plant species. We are currently developing a biodiversity strategy with which we will make a holistic contribution to a diverse ecosystem through sustainable solutions.

We are committed to playing our part in ensuring our planet's limited resources are used sustainably. This is why we are aiming to achieve a complete circular economy across the entire DB Group by 2040, with a particular focus on the Integrated Rail System. For this reason, we are introducing a holistic approach to resource conservation and have set ourselves ambitious resource conservation targets. In doing so, we are relying on various different levers. In 2030, for example, we will use almost twice as much recycled rail steel as we did in 2019, thus increasing the recycled content from 25% to around 45%. During that same period, the percentage of recycled track ballast is set to triple from 13.3% to around 40%. We will use five times as much recycled material for concrete ties, increasing the percentage from 5.7% in 2019 to around 30% in 2030. This will save us around 300,000 tons of CO₂ and around ten million tons of new material. Another lever is the way in which we handle waste materials. We will continue to keep our recycling rate at a high level of at least 95% in the future.

For us, noise protection also means thinking about those people who live next to the rails. This is because we know that continuing to reduce rail noise for local residents is a key requirement for successfully transferring traffic to rail services. We are therefore continuing our efforts to achieve our 2030/2050 noise control target:

• In continuation of the Federal Government's noise remediation program, we will reduce rail traffic noise on a total of 3,250 km of existing lines by 2030. This will reduce rail traffic noise for more than half of affected residents.
• By 2050, we will have remedied the noise pollution caused by rail transport on all 6,500 km of affected lines and for all affected residents.

Increasing the share of women among executive roles is part of our comprehensive diversity strategy. The Management Board adopted new targets in March 2020 on the path to a gender-balanced workforce. The proportion of women in management-level roles in companies falling under the Law for the Equal Participation of Women and Men in Management Positions (Gesetz für die gleichberechtigte Teilhabe von Frauen und Männern an Führungspositionen; FüPoG) is expected to increase to a total of 30% at the Supervisory Board, Management Board and first and second management levels by the end of 2024.

Committed and motivated employees are the prerequisite for satisfied customers and thus for sustainable corporate success. We therefore work consistently to increase the performance capability of the DB Group through high process orientation and implementation strength.

Our target is to further improve employee satisfaction with a target value of ≥ 3.8 SI.

More Information on employee satisfaction can be found in our Integrated Report.