German rail operator Deutsche Bahn has reported a record number of passengers in the Christmas period.
In the booking period December 22 to 28 there will be 3.2 million passengers, the group reported on Tuesday.
The previous peak was reached in the pre-Covid year of 2019 with 2.8 million passengers, it said. In 2021, 1.6 million passengers were counted around Christmas.
Nevertheless, the trains were not fully booked. According to the data, the occupancy rate on the Intercity Express (ICE) and Intercity (IC) trains was 52%.
The railway is operating 80 special trains between December 22 and 28. In addition, the number of seats was increased by 13,000 with the timetable change in mid-December.
Overall, rail operations around the holidays were "stable and largely smooth," the group said.
Deutsche Bahn has recently been criticized because in the past few months fewer than 65% of long-distance trains reached their destination without major delays. A train is considered delayed if it arrives more than six minutes late.
The ICE 3 Neo has proven itself particularly well in Christmas traffic, Deutsche Bahn said. "Since its first journey with passengers on December 5, this new ICE has been in service without any disruptions." At the moment, the group has four trains of this type. In the coming year, 14 more are to be added.
In total, the railway will receive an average of three new trains per month in the coming year, it said.
