When I arrived in West Germany in 1978....one of the top hundred things that fascinated me....were train stations (bahnhofs).
First time upon stepping into the Frankfurt station....I probably spent an hour just standing there and admiring the landscape.
Over the course of the next two years....I traveled around the country and probably admired at least thirty different train stations. I got to a point of rating them....with Frankfurt usually set at the top....closely followed by Munich and Hamburg.
The Frankfurt station had probably three or four bars at the time. If you stood around, yeah....there were probably forty-odd guys usually in some state of drunkenness. They'd find their way to a platform, and catch the train out.
Around 1990....as the wall came down....drugs increased around almost all German train stations. If you walk out the eastern end of Hamburg....for a block....there's a four-star drug zone. Frankfurt? If you walk out the eastern side....for about a block....there's a junkie/dealer-zone. Locals know of the issue....complaining to the city and police....with occasional raids to show 'something' got done.
I'd generally say from 2010 on....most of the metro stations have a boozing problem. If you confronted the Bahn executive management (country-level)...they'd tell you the safety/security around the big stations is now a top-three problem. So going to a dry-station concept....is the only option left.
Will it change much? I'm of the mind that shops around the Bahnhofs....will get increased business...selling beer/booze to the same crowd, and the station security folks will be mostly monitoring consumption within the station....either kicking the boozers out, or detaining them for a dozen hours (to dry out).
The next target? I'd suggest the druggies being selected by the end of 2027.
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