313
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Deutsche Bahn’s once-admired service has descended into chaos. Whether decades of poor investment or the company’s unusual structure is to blame, it’s a huge headache for a coalition trying to meet climate goals

The sleek high-speed train is 10 minutes behind schedule when it slides into Cologne’s main station before continuing its journey north to Dortmund. The delay is now such a common occurrence that the train manager does not even both to mention it to disembarking passengers.

In late afternoon on an unremarkable weekday in this western German city, holidaymakers are hauling suitcases through the station, workers are commuting home, and the late arrival of Deutsche Bahn’s IC 118 from Innsbruck is no surprise.

It does cause annoyance, though: a glance at the departures and arrivals board prompts one middle-aged man carrying a backpack to swear loudly as he enters the station.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

How does this even work if you're in a wheelchair or have a stroller? Half of the elevators in Munich don't work and the other half is small and slow. It's a gamble every time. I literally calculate 15 minutes extra every time I take a long distance train to just go from Sbahn to the long distance trains at the central station because it takes two elevators and I have a stroller with me. And with a stroller you at least can somehow unsafely (also it is forbidden) try to balance it on the escalator. If you have an electric wheelchair you can forget about that. How are these more vulnerable people supposed to get to a new train station within 15 minutes?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

See, that's where the systemic delays come in handy. No seriously, it's a joke.

Experiences like these also leave me with a constant feeling of fear and uncertainty.

On the other hand, I can imagine there are circumstances when a short-notice rescheduling is physically necessary. Or very helpful, if it can prevent delays and missed connections for 5 other trains.

I try to use the DB App and refresh it every minute while on my way to the station, to not miss any irregularity. I try to only feel safe (for the moment) when I'm in the train, be on constant alert before. Not sure why it has to be such an adventure, but here we are.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I try to only feel safe (for the moment) when I'm in the train

Oh boy, two weeks ago I was already in the ICE when they first announced a delay of 20 minutes when the train was supposed to leave. Then a couple of minutes later the train was cancelled and everyone had to get out. We were supposed to take the next ICE that leaves in an hour.

Our ICE was fully booked. So were the other two ones that went the same day. It was either standing with a toddler for 4 hours or book a hotel for the night that won't get reimbursed because theoretically, we could have taken one of the other two trains.

You're never safe to relax. Not even when you are already sitting in the gorgeous baby compartment.

(The reason for the cancellation was a stupid dude who didn't want to leave the train despite the police showing up, and he ended up not only not leaving but threatening a worker to a point that she had a mental breakdown and could not continue the journey, hence leaving a personal shortage that would not allow for the train to be operated. )

this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
313 points (97.3% liked)

World News

38558 readers
3533 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS