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Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

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Re: Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

#101

Post by okanat »

mcbetz wrote: post #82
dgellow wrote: post #13

Any HNer blocked in a DB train who can share with us the experience?

In Erfurt since 2,5 hours. Out of office train driver keeps us updated from chats with fellow drivers (their sources say it is due to software update), radio is fixed now and trains processed one after another (starting with super fast ones - Munich > Berlin, e.g. - so the tracks get emptied quickly). Other interesting observations: when our train stopped, all hotels were already fully booked, as were coach tickets (…

I am a daily user of S-Bahn. I know 2 alternative routes from every single station from home to work. I even started to memorize their departure times. DB prepares you for the worst.

Re: Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

#103

Post by JumpCrisscross »

okanat wrote: post #87
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They need to spend at least 3x that According to whom?

Look at how much Switzerland spends per capita vs Germany. €477 vs €115. And Swiss kept their infrastructure well unlike Germans. source: https://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/themen/infrastruktur/inve...

> Look at how much Switzerland spends per capita vs Germany. €477 vs €115

Your chart shows close to €200 spent by Deutschland per capita in 2024, before the abovementioned spending splurge (about €30/person/year). (The numbers 477 and 115 never appear in your source.)

€230 in Berlin purchases about as much as €371 of CHF in Zürich [1]. So no, I’m not seeing evidence Germany needs to further 3x capital expenditure to unfuck its system, and that’s before observing it spends more than Italy per capita, and Italy’s intercity rail is fantastic.

[1] https://www.paritydeals.com/ppp-calculator/switzerland-vs-ge...

Re: Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

#105

Post by ErroneousBosh »

gpvos wrote: post #74
section_me wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK buys most of their trains from Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) and just brands them differently. British person living in Berlin.

Incorrect. They wouldn't fit in the tiny UK loading gauge (profile). UK trains are indeed variants of continental models, but made to custom size, and many (most?) of them in the UK.

Leide nicht.

Trains in Germany and the UK for main-line running both use 1435mm gauge. UK trains are not a custom size.

Re: Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

#106

Post by gpvos »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #105
gpvos wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incorrect. They wouldn't fit in the tiny UK loading gauge (profile). UK trains are indeed variants of continental models, but made to custom size, and many (most?) of them in the UK.

Leide nicht. Trains in Germany and the UK for main-line running both use 1435mm gauge. UK trains are not a custom size.

They are. Rail gauge and loading gauge are different concepts. Use Wikipedia.

Re: Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

#107

Post by lxgr »

gpvos wrote: post #40

The fallback for GSM-R is the normal GSM network, but according to informed guesses I've read, the handsets still need to authenticate using their GSM-R credentials (it's just normal GSM roaming), and that's failing too.

Very interesting, I always thought it was completely separate infrastructure by design. I wonder what they'll do once commercial GSM networks throughout Europe are shut down?

Re: Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

#108

Post by wolfi1 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #73
fnordian_slip wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what happens when you ignore critical infrastructure for three decades. Of course, if the government were to correct the mistakes of the past, it would get worse for another decade. The necessary repairs would cause a lot more delays, and voters would then say "Were giving them so much extra money, and it gets worse? Unacceptable!". So I fear we'll continue to have these problems forever.

> when you ignore critical infrastructure for three decades To be fair, Deutsche Bahn is currently spending “€107bn between 2025 and 2029” on infrastructure upgrades [1]. [1] https://www.ft.com/content/db75e347-b13b-4753-8130-6301bb55c...

that could have been a lot cheaper of they would have spent in the past (their spending seems to have been very low)

Re: Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

#109

Post by brazzy »

desertrider12 wrote: post #44
dgellow wrote: post #13

Any HNer blocked in a DB train who can share with us the experience?

I’m sitting in an ICE in Munich that was supposed to leave a few minutes before I saw this story on HN. First the conductor announced a 30 minute delay because the radio wasn’t working, and then they bumped it to 2 hours. They didn’t say it was a systemwide problem.

Had a very similar experience in Munich years ago. That time it was because a train engine on fire on the tracks leading out of the station...

Re: Trains halted across Germany because of communication system problem

#110

Post by fhars »

bflesch wrote: post #43
mmoll wrote: post #4

If this weren’t Deutsche Bahn, I’d say it’s a cyber attack. Given that this is Deutsche Bahn, though, it may just as well be a maintenance issue.

[flagged]

It's not, it was a scheduled software update.
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