Deutsche Bahn returned to profit in the first half of 2026, its first since 2019. The bottom line showed 147 million euros, after a loss of 760 million in the same period last year. That is a swing of more than 900 million euros. Across the whole of 2025 the company had posted a loss of 2.3 billion euros.
The operating result adjusted for special effects improved sharply too. It rose by around 650 million euros to a positive 415 million. Revenue grew 1.8 percent to 13.6 billion euros. For the full year the board is sticking to its forecast: an operating result of roughly 600 million euros against 297 million last year, on revenue of about 28 billion.
More people travelled by train as well. The group counted some 960 million passengers in the first half, about 17 million more than a year earlier. Long-distance services, a persistent loss-maker, swung from minus 59 million to plus 148 million euros. Ticket sales have been rising since April on the back of promotional fares. 600,000 passengers have used the last-minute offer, and the free youth BahnCard has been ordered more than 50,000 times.
Where the turnaround comes from
The company attributes it to better operating performance across all divisions. Initial cost reductions and staff cuts at group headquarters and in internal services also contributed. That reduction is running ahead of schedule. Roughly 30 percent of the target set for 2028 has already been met. Behind it sits the "DB 2035" strategy agreed by the management and supervisory boards: a leaner, more decentralised group with more responsibility devolved to the regions.
Evelyn Palla, chief executive since October, called the result an important marker. "For the first time in seven years our railway business is back in the black," she said. She also damped expectations. She will be satisfied only "when the quality of daily rail operations is convincing too."
That qualification carries weight, and it comes from the board itself. Trains still run late and the infrastructure still needs rebuilding. A half-year profit of 147 million euros against 13.6 billion in revenue is a thin margin. The finding is not that the railway has been fixed. It is that the direction of travel has reversed for the first time in seven years.