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Why German trains are never on time anymore

30 points by rawgabbit

by mcv

1 subcomments

> The schedule times are more of a guideline: "You know you'll eventually get there, because there are one or two trains per hour in the big cities." If a train is canceled, you simply take the next one – ticket inspectors are used to this because the system adapts too.
That's a fine attitude when your trains run every 10 minutes, like intercities between Amsterdam and Utrecht do, but not when it's only once an hour.
I don't think there's any station in Netherland that doesn't have at least one train per hour.
I've had a train from Essen to Düsseldorf get cancelled at the end of Spiel! In Essen. Thousands of people had to get to Düsseldorf to catch the last ICE there. The replacement bus wasn't going to make it. I ended up paying a fortune for a taxi. And then the ICE arrived at a different platform than announced.
There's nothing about the German train system that's even remotely acceptable. It's not funny enough to call it a joke. It's a tragedy.

by niemandhier

0 subcomment

It’s always the same: A system run at the boundary of its maximum throughput is brittle.
Tiny disturbances cascade and you get large fluctuations.
I have the standing hypothesis that there is a second order phase transition between free flowing trains and total collapse where the control parameter is the train density.
I just cannot identify the correct order parameter.

by eqvinox

4 subcomments

> Resentment toward the government
Kinda, yes, but also, no, I expected better journalism from Le Monde? This is a bit heavy on extremist right-wing's talking points.
DB is a case of "kaputtgespart" (austered into brokenness), and pretty much all people I (German) know consider it either a result of failed privatization, or just privatization in general. They were squeezing it as tight as they could, in the hopes of throwing it public for good money. Except it never got there. And now we're dealing with the results of that.
At minimum the track part (they keep renaming themselves, I think it's DB InfraGO currently?) needs to be 100% renationalized.
[Ed.: honestly the article is not bad, I'm just confused why they had to bring in AfD commentary. They could've asked pretty much anyone and gotten the same.]

by leonidasrup

2 subcomments

"The weight and influence of the automobile industry within the German economy and society have also been cited as structural obstacles to the development of rail."
Quite a understatement, because automobile industry is the backbone of German export economy. Anything that seriously competes with automobile industry is a BIG no for many German politicians with connections to automobile industry. Like the short lived public transport 9-Euro-Ticket.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9-Euro-Ticket

by amiga386

0 subcomment

by ktallett

0 subcomment