Railway Chatter

This is a page two type story which has interesting implications.

The German Transport Minister, Andreas Scheuer, did a public appeal to the Deutsche Bahn (the German railway people) to lower the ticket prices on a couple of routes to offer a second choice to air travel.

This goes hand in hand with this chatter about C02 stuff, and trying to entice people 'to save the world.'

In some cases, the Bahn already beats air travel....like in the case of Berlin to Hamburg, where a one-way ticket is roughly 40 Euro (about 100 minutes for this speedy trip).

Another example is Frankfurt to Munich, where the air travel cost (round-trip) is about 130 Euro while the one-way train ticket is 40 Euro.

Berlin to Dusseldorf?  That is virtually the same cost....roughly 45 Euro....either way. 

The plus side to the Bahn is where you go and procure the year-long 50-percent off card (120 Euro for those over 60 years old, and 240 Euro for those under 60).  So you'd save on any ticket you bought.

In general, if you live in central Germany (near Frankfurt), then the railway travel option makes perfect sense in reaching any German city.  There may be folks out there who opt for the Frankfurt to Berlin airline ticket....simply because they want to do their business in one single day and return that night. 

But if you live in Hamburg, Bremen, Munich or Dresden....desiring travel to the opposite far corner of Germany, then six to eight hours on the train simply isn't that desirable.  You can add onto the mess by discussing the break-down schedule that 5-percent chance that your trip will be modified for varying reasons.