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Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

theocharis.dev

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Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#131

Post by BloondAndDoom »

I feel like we lost humanity somewhere in modern world. I grew up in 3rd world country and if this were to happen, train would literally stop somewhere, anywhere. (With the assumption it’s safe from crewing into another train).

But the idea that you go 55 minutes just because of policy; and skip 15 stations is crazy to me. Again with the assumptions that it can safely stop somewhere for 5m and I’m pretty sure the answer is yes.

I have fond memories of train stopping close to my house for various random reasons and I’d just get out so I don’t have to walk back from the station. The modern world where everything is “safety issue” and “someone else’s problem” is where we lost our ways, and it’s never coming back.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#133

Post by barrkel »

adammarples wrote: post #122
accountofthaha wrote: post #79

I am never taking the train in Germany or through Germany again (or through Belgium, for that matter). The experience is consistently bad. NS, DB, and NMBS all perform poorly. Train travel itself has become unreliable and frustrating. Ever since I got my car, the difference in freedom is obvious. I do support having basic public transport and solid bike infrastructure for young people, but once you’re 25 or older, th…

I thought in Germany you got unlimited train travel for €58?

Local trains, not ICE or IC.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#134

Post by hdgvhicv »

reddalo wrote: post #42
junon wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

German trains do typically announce in English. If they don't, that's the exception. Just ask around. Most people here speak English and will be able to repeat what was said, especially if they're under 40 or so.

> Most people here speak English Germany is the country where I found the highest number of people not being able to speak English, even people working in accomodation! French people probably know English but they refuse to speak it; Italians don't know English that well, but they try their best using rolling R's and gestures. (I'm a bit ironic)

English people can speak Italian though, just add a vowel-a on-a every-a word-a

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#135

Post by johnisgood »

stevage wrote: post #80
em500 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd reverse the question ask why Germany (or any other country where English is not an official language, and does not majorly rely on tourism for income) would provide any public information in English? Commercial services can choose to do so a matter of self interest, but why would state financed services?

You're really wondering why a state-funded service would consider the needs of tourists?

I do not see the relation, mate.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#137

Post by creichenbach »

tonfa wrote: post #30
101008 wrote: post #10

I know the author mentioned this, but I just got nervous imagining this as a tourist who doesn't speak German at all. This shouldn't be like this. Why they don't help at all? It's also funny considering how here in South America we look at Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time, and the best train system, etc. But I am sure if this happens here it would be on the cover of newspapers.

> Germany trains (and Switzerland trains) as always on time, and the best train system, etc It's true of Switzerland and probably Austria. Germany is famous for having infrastructure issues that will take some time to resolve. Eg see https://chuuchuu.com/2025wrapped for some stats

I'm a heavy public transport user in Switzerland, and even though it's almost a meme how reliable the trains are, reality is different. Yes, they operate in a way that make the stats look good (x% on time), but they take tradeoff to get there. E.g. they won't await connections if another train is a few minutes late. So you might have to wait for 30 minutes for the next one, or even longer if you're unlucky. And there's the occasional big incident, where you get stuck for several hours. I missed flights that way, even though planning in 3 hours of buffer. There is zero compensation in such cases as long as they bring you to your destination on the same day. Plus, several trains are regularly way too crowded.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#138

Post by ACCount37 »

harddrivereque wrote: post #25

Deutsche Bahn has gone from not perfect to straight up disastrous and antisocial in the past years. They use scamming approaches more misleading than airline's and in cases straight up lie. It's rightfully headed for insolvency despite billions of wasteful and wrongful state funding. I hope that company goes under as soon as possible. Any other solution to the railway system management is better than DB. DB is not go…

If a company fails this hard, the solution isn't to feed it more government money to prop it up. It's to let it fail and rebuild from scratch.

Blacklist everyone who was involved above a certain rank. Put together an entirely new structure. The only real way to get rid of this kind of rot is to make the consequences of dysfunction hit.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#139

Post by mschild »

Svip wrote: post #83

> The train starts moving. The driver announces there are “issues around Bonn.” He does not specify what kind. No one asks. We have learned not to ask. This is one of those issues I keep mulling about; it seems train operators (and airliners for that matter) tend to avoid being technically specific about operation problems, and just say "problems" and - if they are kind - where the problem is. And I cannot decide whe…

Part of the reason is that train drivers often dont even know themselves. They might simply get the signal to hold the train or that it needs to be diverted.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#140

Post by microtonal »

cowl wrote: post #64
junon wrote: post #15

Meh. I have lived here for 7 years, and get a bit tired of these sorts of complaints about DB coming from the US. Germans have exceedingly little, if any, patience for anything going wrong. DB is always painted as this evil, completely broken system when in fact it's been a joy compared to e.g. San Francisco. I've only encountered flexibility and slight discomfort in a few cases where something has happened. I'm not…

rerouted? it was a completly different destination, much further than he was originally. there is nothing "noone can do" about stupid burecracies like "can't stop at this station because we are not registered". First they had time to register the stop when they changed the itinery, Second if they failed that somehow, and most probably because of "there was no manual how to do it", in a sittuation like these, stupid r…

This is so typical for German bureaucracy. I used to work at a German university, which included teaching. I once had a small group of students who collectively plagiarized their coursework. Some of the group admitted doing so. I went to the examination office asking them to enforce the punishment for plagiarism (which would increasingly severe with the number of offenses).

They simply told me: this behavior ought to be punished. Which is a euphemism for but I'm not going to do it. They didn't want the hassle of potentially dealing with one out of many students filing a complaint or worst-case go to Karlsruhe (Germans know what that means). Which is exemplary of German bureaucracy, nobody wants to make decisions and carry responsibility.

I love Germany, but this is really something they need to fix going forward, because it stifles society and the economy in many ways.

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