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More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

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Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#261

Post by Rinzler89 »

trueismywork wrote: post #204
user90131313 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is this specific to DB only? I feel like Germany needs a lot of workforce at German quality but no way they can fill that with any type of foreign immigration. They lowered a lot of immigration requirements to entry because of this. But still it will be not enough. It's a cultural thing and low wages in Germany can't fix it.

The language is a big problem. They can get quality immigrants, but convincing those quality immigrants to learn German is a big task. A lot of people would rather go to US with all it's uncertainty than stay in Germany due to these issues.

The language isn't the biggest problem. Once you learn the language your problems don't stop. The big problem is most companies in Germany still prefer to exclusively hire locals who went through the German education system and have degrees from established local educational institutions, instead of recognizing foreigners' digress from abroad at similar levels to that of locals.

It's a white collar form of discrimination. Unless you come from a country as 'white' and wealthy as Germany, your degrees and experience is seen as much less valuable despite your language knowledge and your CV will be rejected even if it's technically a fit. Then comes the discrimination you'll face when looking for a place to rent but that's in other countries as well like the Netherlands.

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#262

Post by Tade0 »

vachina wrote: post #231
Tade0 wrote: post #52

It's a classic case of efficiency vs latency. Swiss railways optimise for punctuality, sacrificing line capacity (compensated for with double-decker cars). Meanwhile every other European rail transport authority seems to be bent on squeezing out the most of the lines it has. I grew up in a city that had two parallel rail lines in the east-west axis - one for long-distance connections, cargo and everything else, the o…

What you said goes against what the other commenter have said, that is Swiss trains cannot inject late trains into the system because the tracks are used at capacity, I.e. there is no buffer for trains to “queue”. Every train is always at the expected place, at the expected time. Hence the system is always at maximum throughput and on-time.

> SBB grants Eurocity trains on the Munich-Zurich route a buffer of ten minutes before reallocating their train path, and even 15 minutes for ICE trains between Freiburg and Basel.

Emphasis mine. This whole system works because they account for delays by having a time buffer in each route that can be consumed by going slower.

During my commutes along Lake Zurich I noticed that the trains would rarely arrive earlier than 30s before schedule - even if it meant going below the maximum allowed speed, as evidenced by instances where the train used the same section to restore the buffer by going faster.

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#263

Post by AnnikaL »

Tainnor wrote: post #151
trgn wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's absolutely crazy to me! I can see my uber driver on my phone stopping to pick up a pretzel from the convenience store, but I can't see where the bus is or get any kind of estimate of when it's going to arrive at the busstop. On vacation this summer in europe, all tram stops had estimated arrival times. Ridiculous, 5-10 minutes out at worst, they wouldn't even need the electronic signs, just a placard that says "…

Trams and buses tend to be more unreliable because they use the same streets as cars (sometimes they get extra lanes, but not always). Metros tend to be more reliable in my experience, I can usually trust what it says on the electronic sign (one big exception is Cologne where the metro isn't a real metro and runs on the street half of the time).

Yeah, in the US the Chicago 'L' and SF's BART are usually at least honest about any delays. Buses will sometimes just... not come.

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#264

Post by ivan_gammel »

Rinzler89 wrote: post #259
ivan_gammel wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, we just got one million of Ukrainian refugees, half of which is not going to return home according to dome polls, but you are right, the demographics cannot be fixed by immigration alone. I myself currently work on a corporate healthcare project with the goal to reduce sick leaves and reduce health-related early retirements. The parental benefits in Germany are quite generous, but it all breaks into the growing…

> but real solutions are yet to be found "Real solutions" exist, but voters won't want to hear them, so we kick the can down the road until the system collapses by itself naturally.

They are non-solutions if they cannot pass voter approval. But what are you talking about exactly?

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#265

Post by Rinzler89 »

ivan_gammel wrote: post #264
Rinzler89 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but real solutions are yet to be found "Real solutions" exist, but voters won't want to hear them, so we kick the can down the road until the system collapses by itself naturally.

They are non-solutions if they cannot pass voter approval. But what are you talking about exactly?

>They are non-solutions if they cannot pass voter approval.

Then why don't voters just vote themselves higher salaries and better pension plans and higher retirement ages? D'uh! Who cares about economics when you have votes? Worked well for Greece.

>But what are you talking about exactly?

Reducing public welfare according to realistic economic capacity and sustainability of the national budget, and encourage citizens to rely more on private systems and personal responsibility. See Switzerland.

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#266

Post by ivan_gammel »

sunaookami wrote: post #255
user90131313 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is this specific to DB only? I feel like Germany needs a lot of workforce at German quality but no way they can fill that with any type of foreign immigration. They lowered a lot of immigration requirements to entry because of this. But still it will be not enough. It's a cultural thing and low wages in Germany can't fix it.

>low wages in Germany Don't forget the absurdly high social expenditures and taxes. You only keep like 40% of your money and it's on track to get even worse.

German welfare state is worth paying it, it just needs to become more efficient. I don’t miss lower taxes I enjoyed in other countries, because I see the difference. And, anyway, high taxes hit upper middle class the most, for majority of population it’s not the biggest concern — rent is.

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#267

Post by dalke »

xenospn wrote: post #136
quitit wrote: post #9

For context German trains over the last few years have become increasingly delayed. To the point that it is now the norm. Official Deutsche Bahn figures are likely underreporting the extent of the problem as the reported times and actual timetables are -aggressively- out of sync (to the frustration of many riders). It's hard to dissect the true source of the problem as there are various factors at play. However the c…

Last time I was in Germany (a few months ago) I almost missed my flight because my train was delayed by over half an hour. I was shocked.

Last fall I almost missed my ferry because my train up to Hamburg was so delayed that it missed my connection to Kiel, and my backup connection pulled out just as my arriving train was stopping.

I knew things were getting bad in Germany so I had planned for enough time for a secondary backup. It left on time, but kept getting slower and slower. Then they announced that due to rail works, there was a bus from Neumünster to Kiel.

At Neumünster, I instead got a taxi, which (thanks to all the taxes going to the Autobahn instead of rails, I presume), got me to the ferry with a peak speed of 150kph, and 10 minutes before loading ended - some four hours after I had planned to be there.

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#268

Post by pxeger1 »

alephnerd wrote: post #222
ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan did it in 1987 and the shinkanzen is still well known for its on time percentage. And they don't cheat either with an x minute grace period. On time means the minute on the timetable. So it's certainly possible.

Japan is also heavily consolidated compared to other countries. The largest shareholders for all the privatized rails in Japan are a mixture of Mitsubishi Group, Mitsui Group and Mizuhou Group. Western anti-trust doesn't allow that level of consolidation - everything is basically owned by a handful of Keiretsu. I highly recommend reading "Corporate Financing and Governance in Japan" by Takeo Hoshi and Anil Kashyap to…

It’s hardly consolidated compared to Germany??

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#269

Post by buzzert »

systemtest wrote: post #135
_zoltan_ wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Across the whole country it's absolutely true. There are car only distances for a lot of stuff.

Does the US not have an extensive network of Greyhound busses, similar to our FlixBus system? Or is that just something I saw in the movies? (I'm not American)

There is an extensive network of Greyhound busses, most people just prefer to take their own cars.

Re: More and more German trains are not allowed to enter Switzerland

#270

Post by ZoomerCretin »

Gud wrote: post #257
snowpid wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Esspecially pro enviroment prefer such rides (but air lines are much cheaper, I only took a train from Munich to Hamburg)

I think people in general choose the most efficient mode of transport.

Efficient for what metric? Carbon emissions? Time? Money?
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