Ad 1) I was perhaps not clear enough that I was talking about the main transit routes. I agree that especially the situation in northern Switzerland could be de

Ad 1) I was perhaps not clear enough that I was talking about the main transit routes. I agree that especially the situation in northern Switzerland could be described as being more complicated and the route from Innsbruck to Zurich should have been included. The area between Basel, Bern and Zürich is indeed the place where traffic from different origins and destinations intermingles. Ad 2) True. Ad 3) Perhaps a better map to support my point is this one about the core Trans-European freight train network: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-European_Transport_Network#/media/File:Trans-European_Transport_Network.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-European_Transport_Netwo... Of course this map is limited, as it does not cover passenger transport and does not show transport volume. However, the fundamental topological problem of the network in Germany should be quite apparent as there are a lot of options were traffic is changing directions and a congestion in a specific place may easily spread to other hubs. -- It is perhaps no coincidence that Europe's two largest marshalling yards are in Germany: Maschen Rangierbahnhof[1] near Hamburg and Mannheim Rangierbahnhof[2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maschen_Marshalling_Yard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maschen_Marshalling_Yard [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannheim_Rangierbahnhof https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannheim_Rangierbahnhof