How to get money back from Deutsche Bahn when your train is delayed

In 2025 Deutsche Bahn (DB) paid more than €156 million in compensation for delays and train cancellations.

According to DB, around 6.2 million applications for compensation were received last year — fewer than in 2024, but almost triple the number of claims received in 2019.

Rail passengers in Germany or Europe are often entitled to compensation when they are delayed by an hour or more. But passengers are not always aware of this right, especially foreign passengers and recent arrivals who aren’t familiar with the rules.

Here’s your guide for getting money back from DB when your train is significantly delayed.

When are you owed compensation?

In the EU, when a train is significantly delayed or cancelled altogether, affected passengers are often entitled to compensation, according to the EU Passenger Regulation. This also applies to disruptions caused by strikes.

READ ALSO: What are the rules in Germany for being late to work due to strikes?

A delay of one hour entitles you to a reimbursement of 25 percent of the fare you paid, and a delay of two hours entitles you to 50 percent back. Delays are calculated based on the time of arrival at your destination station.

DB notes on it’s website that it does not pay out compensation amounts of less than €4.

Round trips and continuing journeys

If you had purchased a roundtrip ticket, you can still claim compensation for a delay on your outward or return journey, or both. In this case, the process for filing a claim is the same (more info below), and DB then calculates your reimbursement based on the price of either the fare for the outward or return journey, or based on half the price of the total if the fares aren’t separated.

In the case of continuing journeys, reimbursements are still calculated based on the time you arrive at your end destination.

So, let’s say you had booked a journey from Munich to Cologne with a transfer in Nuremberg, but a delay on your first train set you back 20 minutes. A 20 minute delay in itself does not entitle you to any compensation, but if that delay caused you to miss your next train, which meant that ultimately you arrived in Cologne more than an hour past the expected time, then you would be entitled to compensation worth 25 percent of the fare for the entire trip.

“Train cancelled” can be read several times on a train station schedule board. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Moritz Frankenberg

For this reason, it’s typically a best practice to book your multi-legged journeys on a single ticket.

Remember that when a delay on one train causes you to miss your next train, you are then entitled to freely ride other connections to the same destination. There’s no need to pay for further tickets in most cases.

READ ALSO: ‘Four-hour delays’ – How travelling on German trains has become a nightmare for foreigners

When can you cancel for a full refund?

If it’s already clear before departure that your train will arrive at its destination at least one hour later than planned, passengers have a right to cancel their trip and request a full refund. This also applies to cancelled trains or missed connections.

Those who are already on the way and break off the trip can have the unused part of the journey refunded. In this case you can also get a full refund if you return to the departure station.

How to get your money back from Deutsche Bahn

To collect your reimbursement, you’ll need to file a claim with DB. For most passengers it will be easiest to do this online, but you may also find forms, fill them out and submit them at the Travel Centre at a major DB station.

Note that an online search may lead you to the passengers rights section of the Bahn.de website, where you’ll find a form that needs to filled out, printed and mailed in or dropped off at the Travel Centre.

But if you bought your ticket online you DO NOT need to do this.

The pro-tip here is to instead quickly submit a compensation request in the DB Navigator app. It’s a bit fiddly, but just requires a bit of patience.

First open the app and go to your ‘Journeys’ tab. Scroll to the bottom where you’ll see the “previous trips” section and select “tickets and trips”.

Then select the tick of the journey where you were delayed > scroll to the bottom and select “more actions” > select “submit compensation request”.

At this point you should be taken to an online form where you can enter the necessary information and submit the request.

You’ll need your order number for the ticket, so write this down before you click through to the submission form. This can also be found in the DB app — look for “Auftrags Nr” under the “Buchnungsdetails” in your ticket info.

You’ll also be asked about your specific arrival time at your destination.

Note than you can claim delays with DB for up to 90 days from the date of the affected journey.

READ ALSO: Deutsche Bahn plans to improve comfort now and punctuality later

Supporting evidence 

Deutsche Bahn recommends asking rail staff to confirm your delay. Sometimes in the event of serious delays, DB staff will provide notices to affected passengers.

The consumer advice centre also advises passengers to take photos of display boards showing delayed or cancelled trains, or take screenshots from their app or the website.

These documents could support your case in the event that DB tries to deny your claim. But you don’t need to submit evidence to file a claim, and if your claim is valid you may find that DB will simply approve it and issue your reimbursement.

Passengers can choose to be reimbursed with a DB voucher, or simply a refund deposited in your bank account.

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According to Deutsche Bahn, 76 percent of all compensation applications are submitted digitally, and around half of these applications are processed within two days.

Compared to 2019, the amount of compensation and also the number of applications has roughly tripled. At that time, Deutsche Bahn paid 52.6 million euros.

The punctuality rate in long-distance traffic was 59.4 percent in February, meaning that 40 percent of stations were reached at least six minutes late.

More details around the conditions for claiming reimbursements can be found on DB’s website.