Five months of delayed trains: DSB fails to meet punctuality targets

DSB has missed its own punctuality targets, new figures reveal. Politicians agree that improvements are needed, but they disagree on how to achieve them.

Lene Svenning commutes several times a week between her home in Holbæk and her workplace in Copenhagen. She takes the 07:17 train, and even an hour before departure, she checks if the train will actually arrive. She has a daughter who needs to go to school, and if the train is suddenly cancelled or delayed, they have to rush out to catch an earlier one.

“It’s a huge stress factor in the morning to get everything to work out,” she says. “And it’s far from fair. I think it’s criticizable. We are customers in a store where the service we pay for is not being delivered.”

Lene Svenning kept a video diary for three days in March. She experienced four delays, with the longest being 28-29 minutes. DSB confirmed the delay but stated it was 26 minutes.

DR Nyheder asked seven commuters to keep a video diary of their commuting experiences in March. While most trains arrived on time, there were several delays, which DSB later confirmed.

One of those affected is Lene. And she is not alone, as new figures show that there have been many delays on regional and long-distance trains operated by DSB. In February 2026, only six out of ten passengers arrived at their destination on time or with a delay of up to three minutes.

DSB: Things are already improving

February 2026 was the worst month for punctuality at DSB in the past year. DSB has targets for the percentage of passengers who arrive at their destination on time. The goal is at least 75 percent. If a train is less than three minutes late, it is considered to have arrived on time.

At DSB, the explanation is that the weather has been a factor in February, but also that the railway is a large construction site in these years. “A lot is happening out there right now, which is causing a lot of trouble for our customers, but in the long run, when it’s over, it will give us a much better railway with many new opportunities,” says Tony Bispeskov, information chief at DSB.

DSB has sent 50 points to customers with a DSB account, which can be used for example for a coffee at the station. This is because they want to apologize to their customers for the month of February, says Tony Bispeskov, information chief at DSB.

Things are already improving, he says, but he also understands if February has tested the patience of passengers. “We fully understand that our commuters have been tired of it. We have also been really tired of it ourselves.”

Agreement from Alternativet to Liberal Alliance

When asked if commuting in Denmark currently lives up to what travelers should expect, politicians from Alternativet to Liberal Alliance find common ground.

“It has been far from good enough,” says Christian Rabjerg Madsen (S). “It’s going really badly,” says Jens Meilvang (LA). “It’s not good enough at all,” says Helene Brydensholt (ALT). “It’s unsustainable,” says Peter Have (M). “It’s completely derailed,” says Mads Olsen (SF). “It’s of course not satisfactory,” says Martin Lidegaard (R).

There is broad political agreement that the situation on the rails is poor and unfair to commuters. However, there is less agreement on the solution.

Source: DR