The invention relates to a needling machine for needling a fibrous web, in which needling machine a needling bar is guided in an upward and downward movement by a movable bar carrier. To this end, a vertical drive is provided which has at least one connecting rod which is connected to a shaft via a bearing point. The vertical drive is assigned a lubricating device for lubricating the bearing point with a lubricant. In order for it to be possible to enable production outputs which are as high as possible with correspondingly high reciprocating frequencies, according to the invention the lubricating device has a metering means and a metering line which is connected to the metering means, wherein the metering means continuously or intermittently feeds a minimum amount of lubricants to the bearing point via the metering line.