Summer rail disruption risks driving passengers away from DSB

Repeated cancellations and delays could damage trust in Denmark’s national rail operator DSB and encourage more passengers to choose alternatives, transport researcher Laura Lindegaard Bang tells DR.

Passengers travelling on holiday, family trips or onward to airports have faced longer journeys and greater uncertainty this summer because of cancelled departures, delayed trains and replacement buses.

Much of the disruption has been caused by scheduled track maintenance. But the timing could hurt DSB particularly badly because many people use trains during the summer holidays even though they do not normally travel by train on weekdays.

“Trust is being affected quite negatively,” said Lindegaard Bang, who researches public transport at Aalborg University.

DSB’s figures show that 61.5 per cent of passengers on its long-distance and regional trains arrived on time in June. DSB defines on time as arriving no more than three minutes after the scheduled arrival time.

The worst performance was recorded between Copenhagen and Odense, where punctuality fell to 34.6 per cent. Under DSB’s contract with the state, at least 75 per cent of passengers must arrive on time. The company has not yet published its punctuality figures for July, when track maintenance also caused delays.

Lindegaard Bang said the disruption could affect people who have not personally experienced problems because stories about trains being unreliable can spread throughout the population.

DSB’s difficulties have also coincided with record passenger numbers for bus operators Kombardo Expressen and FlixBus on routes across the country. DSB’s own measurements indicate reputational challenges as well: its Trust and Like score was 55 out of 100 in the first quarter, which the company considers low.

DSB said the summer disruption was mainly caused by extensive track work that had been scheduled for the holiday period because it was expected to inconvenience the fewest customers.

“Our experience is that customers return to the train,” said Tony Bispeskov, DSB’s head of information. He acknowledged that some passengers could choose alternatives while train services were disrupted but said most understood that tracks, like roads, must be maintained.

Banedanmark is responsible for the tracks. Traffic director Peter Svendsen said the work was carried out during holiday periods to affect as few people as possible.