More and more travelers in Germany are deciding in favor of Deutsche Bahn trains. During the first six months of 2012 the number of passengers (excluding Arriva) rose over the same year-ago figure by almost 40 million to over one billion, or about four percent.

DB’s revenues increased by 3.3 percent, or € 616 million, to €19.5 billion during the first half of 2012. Adjusted results from operations (adjusted EBIT) surged by 16.6 percent, or € 188 million, to € 1.3 billion.

During Thursday’s presentation of the first half results in Berlin Dr. Rüdiger Grube, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of DB AG, stated that: “The first six months were very successful for DB. Despite economic uncertainties we remain confident for the full year 2012. Our business success makes it possible for us to realize the demanding investment objectives set out by our DB2020 Strategy. This means that we will continue to improve our service, quality and offers for our customers.”

During the first half of 2012 DB increased its gross capital expenditures by € 349 million over the same year-ago period, or 13 percent, to € 3.0 billion, while net capital expenditures even soared by 34 percent, or € 359 million, to € 1.4 billion. Net financial debt rose slightly in comparison to the comparable figure noted at the end of 2011. Dr. Richard Lutz, DB CFO said: “Our central controlling figures show that we are on the right track as we were able to further improve both our ROCE figure, which is a measure of profitability, as well as our redemption coverage, which is a measure of our financial stability.”

Contributions made by the various Deutsche Bahn business units to the overall favorable results varied. Volumes sold posted by the rail passenger transport segment (excluding Arriva) increased by 4.4 percent or 1.7 billion passenger kilometers (Pkm) to 39.7 billion Pkm. In contrast, bus transport (excluding Arriva) fell by 6.1 percent to 383.4 million passengers.

Rail freight transport figures for the first half of 2012 declined by 2.6 percent, from the same year-ago figure, or 5.5 million tons of less freight carried, to 202.3 million tons. Volumes sold fell by 4.9 percent to 54 billion tom kilometers (tkm).

In the face of a difficult market environment, the DB Schenker Logistics business unit recorded a marginal gain of 0.5 percent in the number of shipments in European land transport, which rose to 47.8 million shipments. In contrast, volumes of air freight carried fell by 7.9 percent, while volumes of ocean freight transported developed far more favorably posting a substantial gain of 10.6 percent.

Demand for train-path in the rail network declined slightly during the first half of the year. Volumes sold for the network dropped by 0.6 percent to 518.5 million track kilometers (Trkm). Non-Group railways increased their performance by 4.1 percent, or 4.4 million Trkm, to 112.7 million Trkm. Their share of total train-path demand in the rail network was 21.7 percent and set a new record.