313
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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
[-] Wootz@lemmy.world 51 points 1 year ago

My family and I took the train from Copenhagen, Denmark to Bologna, Italy and back again this summer.

By and large it was a good experience. Taking the train through the alps is something I'll never forget.

To my great amazement, the trains in Italy ran smoother than the trains in Germany.

On our return trip, we zipped from Bologna to Milano and from there to Frankfurt in just under nine hours. Smooth sailing. The Frecciarossa was by far the nicest train I've ever been on.

Frankfurt to Copenhagen, a noticeably shorter distance, ended up taking fifteen hours. Our 7:14 train out of Frankfurt Central got moved to another station a mere fifteen minutes prior to departure. From there, everything devolved into a mess of missed trains and lack of communication. I think we ended up switching trains five or six times.

Deutsche Bahn is a shadow of its former self, and it makes me profoundly sad that a nation globally known for precision and efficiency has such terrible train service.

[-] RufusLoacker@feddit.it 12 points 1 year ago

Italian here

We give a lot of shit to our train system (and rightly so) but it actually works quite well, in comparison to our European neighbours.

Bologna to Milano is a very nice line indeed

[-] Verdorrterpunkt@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Hey, no need to attack all your neighbours! ;)

load more comments (7 replies)
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
313 points (97.3% liked)

World News

39040 readers
1011 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

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 !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


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