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immigrant to Germany here. Can you help me understand what's so bad about the deutsche bahn? I've heard transport infrastructure experts refer to the rail infra

immigrant to Germany here. Can you help me understand what's so bad about the deutsche bahn? I've heard transport infrastructure experts refer to the rail infrastructure here as competitive to Japan's, i.e. one of the best in the world. I have to say that's my experience too, despite some irregularities in service. also deutsche post... what's so bad about it?

schleck8 4y ago
It's a shit experience travelling with them. Most trains don't have wifi and the reception cuts off all the time. Also many of trains are late, way more than the few competitors like Nordwest Bahn (run by a French company). And lastly, it's way, way, way too expensive. They are seriously charging 100 € for a 2 hour trip through one state when you don't book weeks in avance.
KingOfCoders 4y ago
Well when I was in Japan, all trains were on time, all trains clean, all trains arrived in the correct order, all employees friendly and competent. I'm using Deutsche Bahn for 45+ years now. Before privatization trains were on time but employees thought they are managing a prision. Since privatization there are always problems. Late (they say 5min which means 10, they say 10 which means 15, they say 15 which means 30, they say 30 - it will never arrive). Trains are dirty, lots of ICE trains are old, you're very lucky when you get a new gen 4 train. Two weeks ago they had to vacate a railway car because the air conditioning broke down - everyone had to go to another railway car in an already full train. Which was a replacement ICE, because the the train I had a reservation for was cancelled. I was very lucky to be able to make another reservation in the next train, which was very full because of the cancelled train, and people were angry because they couldn't sit although they had paid for a reservation. And they own the tracks so do everything to kneecap the competition. Some competitors that exist are much much better (e.g. ODEG). The also had a legal monopoly on bus travel in Germany (fell after 70 years). And did everything bus travel was as unattractive as possible so people would use trains. They have an app where you can check in. But only if you're going alone, if you travelling as a couple, you can't check in. We tried the app for some time and thought it was an UI problem or our stupidity, when a Deutsche Bahn employee confirmed that it's not possible to check in with two people sharing a ticket in one app. You need to buy two tickets - beware if you travel with two persons. As we say in Germany, #neuland.

schleck8 4y ago

It's a shit experience travelling with them. Most trains don't have wifi and the reception cuts off all the time. Also many of trains are late, way more than the few competitors like Nordwest Bahn (run by a French company). And lastly, it's way, way, way too expensive. They are seriously charging 100 € for a 2 hour trip through one state when you don't book weeks in avance.

KingOfCoders 4y ago

Well when I was in Japan, all trains were on time, all trains clean, all trains arrived in the correct order, all employees friendly and competent. I'm using Deutsche Bahn for 45+ years now. Before privatization trains were on time but employees thought they are managing a prision. Since privatization there are always problems. Late (they say 5min which means 10, they say 10 which means 15, they say 15 which means 30, they say 30 - it will never arrive). Trains are dirty, lots of ICE trains are old, you're very lucky when you get a new gen 4 train. Two weeks ago they had to vacate a railway car because the air conditioning broke down - everyone had to go to another railway car in an already full train. Which was a replacement ICE, because the the train I had a reservation for was cancelled. I was very lucky to be able to make another reservation in the next train, which was very full because of the cancelled train, and people were angry because they couldn't sit although they had paid for a reservation. And they own the tracks so do everything to kneecap the competition. Some competitors that exist are much much better (e.g. ODEG). The also had a legal monopoly on bus travel in Germany (fell after 70 years). And did everything bus travel was as unattractive as possible so people would use trains. They have an app where you can check in. But only if you're going alone, if you travelling as a couple, you can't check in. We tried the app for some time and thought it was an UI problem or our stupidity, when a Deutsche Bahn employee confirmed that it's not possible to check in with two people sharing a ticket in one app. You need to buy two tickets - beware if you travel with two persons. As we say in Germany, #neuland.