There has never been so much rail traffic at an international football tournament as at EURO 2024: 6 million passengers have travelled on Deutsche Bahn (DB) ICE and IC trains alone since the start of the European Championship.
In addition to this, there are passengers on the S-Bahn, regional trains and DB buses. In the capital Berlin alone, around 150,000 passengers used the S-Bahn to travel to and from the stadium and fan mile each match day. In Munich, around 70,000 fans have travelled to the stadium on DB buses since the start of the tournament. Around 3.5 million passengers travel on DB Regio every day.
Numerous teams also opted to travel to the match venues by train during the group phase. The Swiss team is the leader. During the preliminary round, the team travelled by train five times, followed by Romania with four trips and Georgia and the Czech Republic with two trips each.
“DB would like to thank all fans for their patience and for their consideration when their train journey did not go as planned, and the 150,000 DB employees for their commitment during the EURO. They are doing everything they can to get fans and teams safely to their destination, despite the unfortunately often extreme weather conditions shortly before and during the tournament”, the company said.
DB EURO 2024 statistics so far
- 6 million passengers on DB’s ICE and IC trains since the start of the European Championship
- The Berlin S-Bahn alone transported around 150,000 additional passengers on each match day.
- 100,000 more travellers per day at the host cities’ train stations
- More than 22,000 consultations conducted at the Welcome Desks at the train stations
- First half of climate-friendly team travel by train:
- Switzerland (five trips)
- Romania (four trips)
- Georgia and Czech Republic (two trips each)
- Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands (one trip each)
“We were looked after very warmly on our five trips with Deutsche Bahn. It was a special and valuable experience for the players and the staff. They appreciated the time on the train with plenty of legroom and space and spent the time playing board games and card,” said Murat Yakin, coach of the Swiss national team.
“The Romanian national football team travelled to both Cologne and Munich by train. This was the best option for us with the highest level of comfort. Moreover, there were no problems; we experienced no delays and everything went completely smoothly,” Edward Iordănescu, coach of the Romanian national team said.
Philipp Lahm, UEFA EURO 2024 tournament director, says the delays so far have been manageable. “The delays so far have been manageable, always just a few minutes. On Friday, Deutsche Bahn unfortunately put a stop to my travel plans, but I was in the stadium for the second half of the Ukraine vs. Slovakia match. In general, however, I am aware of the problem and the challenges that many fans are currently struggling with when traveling by train. We need to improve the infrastructure in Germany again, something that has been neglected in recent years,” said Lahm.
In honor of the players, the DB has donated an additional sign to the train station in their hometown. This contains a reference to the star who comes from the respective place. A total of 24 train stations across Germany have been equipped with this.
A toast to football: Since the start of the European Championship, 120,000 liters of beer have been sold in the on-board catering.
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