Built by a Swede
on a delayed train
(At München Hauptbahnhof. Obviously.)
I grew up in Sweden, where the trains are famously punctual. Then I moved to Germany.
I'd heard the stories, but I was optimistic. Germany. Engineering. Precision. Surely the trains would be fine.
They were not fine.
Week after week, I stood on cold platforms watching departure boards flip from pünktlich to +12 min to +31 min to the soul-crushing Zug fällt aus. I missed connections. I missed meetings. I missed a friend's birthday dinner in Berlin because of a 94-minute delay outside Hannover.
But the thing that really got me, the thing I couldn't let go of, wasn't the delays themselves. It was finding out that I was legally owed compensation every single time, and I'd never claimed a single euro.
I wasn't alone. About 47% of passengers who are owed money never claim it. Not because they don't deserve it. Because the process is a mess. Forms, uploads, follow-ups, bureaucratic German legalese... most people just give up and move on.
That felt wrong. So I built TrainOwed.
What it turned into
TrainOwed is a one-person startup that does one thing: gets German train passengers the compensation they're legally owed under EU Regulation 2021/782. You take a photo of your ticket, answer a few questions, and we handle the rest, from the initial claim to chasing the operator if they're slow.
No bureaucracy on your end. No German legalese. No win, no fee.
Deutsche Bahn paid out €196.8 million in Fahrgastrechte compensation in 2024. There are hundreds of millions more sitting unclaimed. It's your money, you just need someone to help you get it.
A personal note
I still live in Germany. I still take the trains. They are still, with remarkable consistency, late.
But now, every delay feels a little different. It's not just wasted time anymore, it's a claim. And for thousands of passengers every month, TrainOwed turns that frustration into money back in their pocket.
That's a good feeling.
- Henrik, founder of TrainOwed
Had a delay recently? Let's see if you're owed money.
Check my compensation →