With my original introduction to the German Bahn (the railway system) in 1978....I became a supporter of the system. I will readily admit (with the exception of the Netherlands)....Germany runs one of the best railway systems in Europe. But you have to stand back and observe the whole landscape.
The modern railway cars of today? Sleek, potentially fast, and inviting. But then you start to notice little things. Yes, maybe one out of every ten trains you ride....have a broken toilet or two. I've ridden at least three three-car operations in the last year where the one and only toilet was non-functional.
The AC units? Virtually all of the cars delivered in the past twenty years have AC units. Are they operational? Well.....no. What you will find is that when the temperature gets up to around 95 degrees F (35 C) or above, the AC units for the most part are ineffective. Luckily, there might only be ten days like this in an average summer. But if you were traveling in August in mid-day? You might want to exit the train at some point and chill off.
The schedule business? It's crap. Even Germans now will whine about this. You might show up for the 7:06 AM train, and maybe for six weeks straight....it'll leave within a minute or two of that time. Then you come to some period, where that same train is ten minutes late for almost fifty-percent of the time, for a whole month. You might even find yourself standing there and expecting this 7:06 AM train totally cancelled, and you are fumbling around with the App.....trying to figure plan 'B', and how late you will be for the office or appointment.
Crowded nature? Outside of rush-hour periods? It's typically not an issue. In rush-hour periods, it's miserable and the Bahn folks keep talking about resolving issues but the best they can do is add one more single car onto a already fairly long train. This talk of getting more people to avoid driving their car, and using the Bahn? There are actually environmentalists who chat about doubling the current rider situation. It's a fantasy with no real potential.
Train stations maxed out? If you live around Frankfurt, Hamburg or Essen.....most folks will tell you that in the rush-hour period, there's a major mess brewing.
The positives? ALL of the airports are tied into the railway system. If you have a flight at 9 AM....you can generally use the railway to get from your village to the airport.
The cost? It's still reasonable and these state 24-hour tickets are a fantastic deal.
The Apps and internet usage? Fantastic. You can plan a trip in a matter of five minutes, purchase the ticket, and just jump on the train.
If you have to do three transfers to achieve your trip.....with less than 20 minutes between each transfer point? I'd say the odds are only 50-percent that this planned trip will work like you think.
Then I come to safety. It is rare that any German train has an accident. A lot of this is due to maintenance efforts, and continual daily reviews of the trains and lines.
As much as you'd like to say fantastic things about the German railway....you end having to balance this with the negatives.
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