In 1984/1985, I rode the German railways a great deal. Pricing was great, and you could easily plan a trip for a weekend, with the train eventually eventually delivering you back to your home-town.
One of the key things that I came to enjoy....was on-board dining. For the longer distance trains (Frankfurt to Munich, or Frankfurt to Hamburg), they'd have a car with pretty decent food being served. You'd sit for an hour around noon, enjoying a schnitzel platter and a beer.....then arrive at your destination ready to go.
N24 news brought up this on-board dining topic today. A lot of Germans have noticed over the past five years....that the longer distance trains will make an announcement early on in the 'run'....that other than drinks, that's it for the dining car attached to the train.
This has reached a stage where political folks in Berlin finally stood up and asked the 'boss' of the Bahn....what's going on? In particular, they wanted the 'rate' of the dining cars being open and running.
Well...the 'boss' said that's a state-secret. Yes, you can be amused by the quote, but he admitted this was a trade-secret and he couldn't possibly talk about this function of the national train service.
What's going on? No one can say much. My humble guess is that there is a cost factor for certain runs, and they've reached a stage where the human and operational cost is too much to bear....so they just dump meals and cooks. Drink service? Relatively cheap.
It wouldn't surprise me if in ten years.....all dining on-board trains in Germany simply disappears, or is taken over by McDonalds.
Another sign that the train service probably peaked out in the 1990s? I would offer that opinion.
2 comments:
Who knew that when you privatise things they tend to go to shit? Fancy that!
The day of the 10-Euro Schnitzel platter on Bahn trains is long-gone. You could price a decent plate in the 1980s, and with a beer...it wasn't a bad price. Today? If you priced up a bratwurst and beer, it'd easily be 10-Euro. I would imagine the schnitzel platter with a beer going close to 16-Euro. A lot of this is simply operational cost...not the product itself.
In the 1980s, in major urban train stations, there were always a decent restaurant in the building with reasonable prices. Lately? Go into Hamburg, Koln or Frankfurt....where McDonalds is your primary choice in the station....maybe your only choice. A lot has changed.
My advice, if you opt for any long train trip...eat up before you arrive at the station, and carry an apple or two for the trip on the train.
Post a Comment