Deutsche Bahn

Thirty-five percent of Germans now say they avoid the train whenever possible.
— HUK Coburg Mobility Study, highlighting the public’s deepening mistrust in the DB timetable following frequent delays.

German Railways – Deutsche Bahn – were famously, like all things German, Very Efficient. Punctual, reliable – everything both the commuter and the traveller needed. A few years ago, things started to go wrong. Decades of underinvestment led to increasing problems: cancellations, unpunctuality, breakdowns … By June this year, when we needed to travel through Germany to get to and from Sweden, punctuality was down to 59%.

Nevertheless, on our way there, we had few problems. Yes, our trains in Germany were a little late, but nothing to worry about. When, travelling home, we had a one-day window to get from Hamburg to home in England, it was a different story.

Hamburg Station round about 8.20 a.m. Our inter-city train was announced to be about 10 minutes late. Ah well. Then – 20 minutes late. This was a bit more serious. We had a connecction to make in Cologne, to get to Brussels for our Eurostar to England. Then – train cancelled. We stood considering our options. Then they un-cancelled the train, which eventually trundled in. Our journey got underway. At Osnabrück we stopped. And stayed there, in the station. No movement. No announcements. The minutes ticked by. Then an hour. Then ninety minutes. Eventually we resumed our journey .

As we got nearer Cologne, the guard transmitted an announcement. Our train would be unable to stop at the central station (Why? We never found out), and instead stopped in the suburbs where most passengers got off, and caught an S-Bahn (metro train) to Cologne for, in our case, our Brussels connection, which obligingly waited for us. (It wasn’t our booked connection of course. That had long gone)

In Brussels, our intended Eurostar train was well on its way to England. We started to explain our delay at the Enquiry desk. The words ‘Deutsche Bahn’ elicited immediate sympathy, and two reservations on the next train to London. Where, astonishingly, there was a train departing shortly after to Thirsk. We abandoned all thoughts of a leisurely meal at the station – the original plan – grabbed some chocolate, and ended up back home less than two hours later than we should have been.

By the next morning, news had reached us that had we been on German railways only a few hours later, our goose would have been truly cooked. The entire network, country wide, had come to halt for over two hours.

Imagine where THAT would have left us and our fellow passengers. Not to mention the hapless drivers and train staff of Deutsche Bahn, all hopelessly into unwanted overtime, and in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Has it put us off? Not at all. Despite that last day, getting round northern Europe courtesy of our Interrail passes gave us a stress-free and relaxing holiday, enjoying scenery and sights from train windows in six different countries in the course of our journey. We’ll do it again . Preferably dodging Deutsche Bahn.