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Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

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Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#461

Post by lpribis »

db48x wrote: post #328
BloondAndDoom wrote: post #131

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 ans…

Same here. An Amtrak train would just stop at the next convenient road crossing, if there were really something preventing them from stopping at the scheduled station. Most Amtrak stations don't even have staff, or any way to prevent people from coming and going, so this would most likely involve construction on the station platform itself. That’s fairly rare but the last time I took the Zephyr headed east there was…

They can't realistically do this in Germany because the tracks are so much more busy than the US. There would more than likely be a train coming the other direction within the next few minutes, and they cannot guarantee all the people have time to vacate the track area.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#462

Post by sva_ »

dale_glass wrote: post #373
sva_ wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How dare they speak their own language in their own country on a regional train

I think you still should be able to expect a bit of accommodation on trains that cross country borders or go to airports. The EU makes travel between EU countries as easy as travel between US states. You can just get on a train from Germany to Spain without any prior planning.

The regional trains usually have announcements in the language of the neighboring country when they get close to the border

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#463

Post by filmor »

The RE5 is operated by National Express. You have not been kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn.

The connection in question is probably https://bahn.expert/details/RE28521/j/20251224-a0049123-9494....

According to this page, it actually did stop at Troisdorf (though, that doesn't have to be correct). I don't see why they should have been able to stop at Neuwied but not any of the stations in between. Most of them are possibly too small, as the RE5 is quite long for a regional train, about 200m. The usual "RE" on this track, the RE8, is only about 110m max. Bonn-Beuel should have worked, though.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#464

Post by kuschku »

wolvoleo wrote: post #238
rwmj wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if it's not safety but money. In the UK, train operators pay station operators a fixed fee to stop. As a result trains can't just stop somewhere randomly (except I hope in an emergency) even if that would benefit many people. All this is, needless to say, very stupid.

I don't think so as in this case Deutsche Bahnn owns both the station and the train. In the UK they've gone a bit crazy with the whole free market thing. Public transport should not be a market. In Germany there's also the issue that the powerful car makers are always lobbying the government to budget cut public transport.

Germany does actually have station fees. And DB isn't the only operator. The RRX trains, one of which OP talked about, are operated by DB and National Express, ordered by the RRX group comprised of VRR, go.Rheinland, NWL, SPNV-Nord and NVV, running on tracks and stations by DB InfraGO.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#465

Post by bad_username »

indiantinker wrote: post #17

DB is weird. They seem to make their own rules and then run the game and “dont tell the rules to anyone”. I was on my way to catch a flight from Munich to my home (Madrid). I didn’t knew that apparently at one point the train splits into two parts and the front part goes to the airport and the other part just goes to the nearby cattle farms and comes back in 3 hours. Google Maps - No idea Citymapper - what? English a…

Your ticket was without assigned seat? Because if there was assigned seat, surely the seat would be in the correct carriage?

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#466

Post by geysersam »

purpleflame1257 wrote: post #229
BloondAndDoom wrote: post #131

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 ans…

Venkatesh Rao offers the following definition of the "Fourth World" Fourth world: Parts of the developed world that have collapsed past third-world conditions because industrial safety nets have simultaneously withered from neglect/underfunding, and are being overwhelmed by demand, but where pre-modern societal structures don’t exist as backstops anymore. This is what this story reminds me of.

This is just silly. The German train system has problems. Does that mean total civilizational collapse? No, it doesn't.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#467

Post by groestl »

throw-the-towel wrote: post #144
groestl wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the top of my head I know three cities which have peculiarities when it comes to public transportation to the Airport. In two cases, it's obvious they do this to push the private train to foreigners, at 5x the ticket rate.

Can you share which cities these two are?

Stockholm (SL Bus/Train via Märsta 47kr vs. Arlanda Express 340 SEK)

Vienna (S-Bahn S7 4.40 EUR vs. City Airport Train 24.90 EUR)

While with the Stockholm one, the public transport option is cheap but a little bit more complicated (there are convenient medium priced options too), the Vienna one is really just branding and a non-obvious exit to the train station.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#468

Post by trvz »

tzs wrote: post #263
nephihaha wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dutch announcements in the Netherlands. Fancy that. Almost like it's the national language or something.

The Netherlands is in the EU. English is the most widely spoken language in the EU, even after the UK left, because it is by far the most common second language. Nearly half of the people in the EU can speak it. In Northern Europe the percentage is even higher. In the Netherlands there are almost as many people who speak it as there are Dutch speakers. Taking into account people from other EU countries who are there…

Ideally announcements should be bilingual, but if there’s only one language, it’s better to inconvenience any number of foreigners than even a single native who doesn’t speak English.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#469

Post by scotty79 »

gkoz wrote: post #431
purpleflame1257 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Venkatesh Rao offers the following definition of the "Fourth World" Fourth world: Parts of the developed world that have collapsed past third-world conditions because industrial safety nets have simultaneously withered from neglect/underfunding, and are being overwhelmed by demand, but where pre-modern societal structures don’t exist as backstops anymore. This is what this story reminds me of.

There's no indication of any failures of the industrial layer in this story. The train was working, it didn't crash into anything, everyone was safe.

The train worked, the railway did not.

Re: Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn

#470

Post by HolyLampshade »

Tommix11 wrote: post #383
Zealotux wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for a massive German company you heard of, this sounds more like the typical German philosophy of strictly following the process -- as absurd as it might be -- and refusing to take initiative for anything that is not explicitly defined as one's responsibility. As a French, the culture shock was brutal and I never really got around that work attitude. I went through a similar issue back when I used to take a…

The German philosophy is also very much prevalent in Sweden.

I worked in the Swedish office of a multinational for a couple of years and the one experience I had where Swedes were selling a complex multi-million euro project to Germans was one of the most bureaucratically filled initiatives I’ve ever experienced in my life. Not sure if the project ever really took off, but I’m thankful I was able to avoid it beyond the initial week of discussions.
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