> Deutsche Bahn is one of the better railway operators in Europe, especially compared to the railways in Southern Europe or the UK
Are you sure you're not just remembering their old reputation? DB's punctuality and performance has gotten to be terrible lately, I'd say they're well below Trenitalia or Renfe or most of the UK railways at this point. (And complaints about British railways are pretty overstated; prices are bad, but performance is objectively pretty good).