Earlier quoted context omitted.
if you judge driving cars as 'sane', sure; I don't
I am just opposed to "big auto" idea being responsible for lack of investments in train network.
it's exactly this
Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
81–90 of 105 posts
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#82When I toured Germany in the 1980s with a train pass, there were clocks all over the train stations. If the train was scheduled to start at 11:07, when the big hand clicked to 7, the train started to move. It was wonderful. BTW, the D community is all over the world. We schedule a zoom meeting each month. When we began the meetings, and the meeting started at, say, 8, the meeting organizer would say "we need to wait…
I was going to write a very snarky reply, but you seem much more experienced than me, so I thought about it a little bit. My point remains, but the snark goes away. And I'm in Germany and people wait 5 minutes before starting. In all regular seminars, people start at 5 past. It's because it is assumed that people have another meeting or seminar till the hour before. Same with meetings. Only in conferences do people start at the dot.
I think it is when systems fail, people stop responding to systems, and this is what is happening in Germany right now.
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does this even mean?
One train has to get off for a different one to get on a track. Delays compound.
which translates as, germany has no land left for rights of way and things like train switching yards.....real estate is bonkers expensive... and switching tracks for high speed trains are going to be HUGE....next step would be to have elevated(double deck) bypass tracks....but that would cause.....further disruptions
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#84The punctuality of the trains has been more of a joke for quite a bit, I don't think it's a big part of German identity. The part that is really terrible are the long-distance trains. Not that the regional trains are always punctual, their reliability varies a lot per route. But they're not as bad as the long-distance trains. One big recent improvement is the Germany ticket, for 58 EUR per month you can take any regi…
It's a meme, even Duolingo's German lessons bring up "the train is late" phrases pretty early :)
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#85I moved to Germany 10 years ago and while regional and suburban train service has been great, the long distance service has been terrible, with high prices, almost no high speed service and no competition. I'm Italian and therefore I had very low expectations, but at least high speed trains in Italy run better than Germany (at least until recently, when lack of regular maintenance work ultimately made its dent into t…
As a German, I always loved the long distance trains I. Italy. I remember a trip in 2008 crossing From south to North Italy which cost a fraction of what it would have in Germany. It had A/C and it was on time. So comfy. Meanwhile in Germany, they charged a shitton of money and it had no A/C.
Still last year I found it much better than in Germany, overall. The only thing that PISSES me off is that the stupid Trenitalia does not show me which platform the train is departing/arriving from. It blows my mind that this CRUCIAL information is not shown anywhere and you literally have to be standing in the station to hopefully find it.
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#86In the last few weeks I’ve had friends lose/almost lose their flights in Germany because their trains were several hours late.
Trains here are bad and the ones to/from Frankfurt are almost always delayed IME but surely you have other options to fall back on for getting there (or to whatever airport) that take less than "several hours".
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#87In the last few weeks I’ve had friends lose/almost lose their flights in Germany because their trains were several hours late.
Trains here are bad and the ones to/from Frankfurt are almost always delayed IME but surely you have other options to fall back on for getting there (or to whatever airport) that take less than "several hours".
Good luck with those fallback plans when your train stops in the middle of nowhere for an extended period of time. Or getting a full refund for that taxi you had to take to reach your intended destination.
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is why I do not like the American traffic signaling system. When the light turns red cross traffic has a two to three second delay. My feeling is that if people knew the cross traffic would go immediately when the light turned red they would certainly stop. But right now they know there's a buffer so they just run the red light.
Around here the power goes out to the lights now and then. Interestingly, the traffic flows smoother and faster without the lights! Even the arterials! It's amazing! Drivers simply politely cooperate with each other. (The same thing happens when a traffic cop handles the intersection.) I'm always assured that the city traffic light engineers know what they're doing and design the lights for maximum flow. They do no s…
That's because traffic lines exist for safety not efficiency. They guarantee a time during which you can drive through the crossing without looking, while introducing idle time.
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#89When have they ran on time sorry ? The last time I caught a train in Germany I remember having to wait on a freezing platform for ~ 3 hours until they gave up on the train and got us a coach and drove us to Hamburg...that was ~ 9 years ago. I don't remember having the same issue in Netherlands though. On the other hand I've been in Japan for a long time, I honestly don't remember a single train being late in all that…
It's compared to before the train reform. 9 years is only 2016.
Re: Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time
#90In the last few weeks I’ve had friends lose/almost lose their flights in Germany because their trains were several hours late.
I don’t understand why someone would take the train instead of his car unless he wanted to take the risk of losing the flight.