A Demonstration of Bahn Woes

 I went to a concert event last night in Wiesbaden.  Yeah, occasionally, I will get 'culture'.  

So this was a professional orchestra group....from the Schleswig Holstein area (up around the Hamburg region).  To make this deal work......they were supposed to depart that region at 8 AM yesterday....ride the Bahn railway (ICE), and be in Wiesbaden around 3 PM.  Yeah, it's a 7-hour ride.

We showed up at the 'hall' at 6:30 PM, and typically....the doors would be open and you could make your way to your seat.  Well.....the doors weren't open.  We waited at the entry. 

About four minutes prior to 7 PM.....they opened the doors, and around 7:12....out walked the head guy of the music festival who gave this 3-minute apology.  

Basically, the Bahn had troubles running on schedule, and the arrival was delayed in Wiesbaden by three hours.  So they barely got to the city at 6 PM.  They'd done a last-minute set-up and marginal rehearsal.....delaying everything.

Then the Hessen Cultural Minister came up to give her apology.  I question the necessity of so much apology.  

But this brings up the whole 'believe-in-us' campaign of the Bahn, and how a simple delay....leads to another delay, and you end up with 600 folks sitting in a hall....waiting.  If the delay had gone for another 90-odd minutes....I would imagine they would have cancelled the orchestra event and had to refund the tickets.

Adding to this...the Green Party is working hard to cancel in-country flights, so your only option for travel would be to drive, or ride a train/bus situation.  If your time mattered, then the option for air would not exist.  

I'm not anti-Bahn.....it's just that you always need a plan 'B', and accept the fact that railway system in Germany isn't perfect.  I'll add.....in the past twenty years, with all the evolution going on....these bars and pubs that used to exist at stations....for people to drink while waiting for a mess to clear up....have shut down.  You basically need to bring a bottle of booze with you....to comfort you in this waiting periods.