A big part of why there are so wildly differing accounts regarding punctuality of German trains is that a lot of the delay is limited to a few specific lines that are overloaded even on the regular schedule. Most of these lines are on the dense part of the long-distance network [1], around the Ruhr area and the Frankfurt area.
By contrast, I usually use routes in Eastern Germany, such as Dresden-Berlin-Hamburg/Rostock. These lines have been recently built and are not overloaded, so services are nearly always on time (or, at most, 10 minutes delayed) and connections are very reliable.
By contrast, I usually use routes in Eastern Germany, such as Dresden-Berlin-Hamburg/Rostock. These lines have been recently built and are not overloaded, so services are nearly always on time (or, at most, 10 minutes delayed) and connections are very reliable.
[1] https://assets.static-bahn.de/dam/jcr:b4fca34a-4b95-4d82-98d...