Recent content by Planesandtrain

Well in German it's Kundenbetreuer (KB) or in DB ops it's Kin, it's essentially like the OBS role in the UK, we check tickets and stick our heads out of the door at every stop without doing anything safety critical.

I'm native in both German and English so after around 07:00/08:00 I also add english announcements and the looks on peoples faces when they hear a bit of a London accent (on some days I really try and make it sound like a british gaurd) on a train heading through the deepest Allgäu is brilliant...

Unbelievable. Just goes to show how Europes railway managers have run the system into the ground. Now I can replan everything I had planned.

They must have really felt the impact of Europe Day... an absolute disgrace what has become of international rail travel within many parts of europe.

Spent a week travelling around Romania, all I can say is take care around the doors, trains depart with them open, some close (due to TB0) but others don't. One instance on an iR from Galtai towards Bucharest a door flew open at 120kmh and train crew were trying to shut it, eventually it was...

The real problem of course is that off the main TGV corridors SNCF don't offer enough trains to be able to cope with the demand as is. Region Grande Est is even introducing mandetory reservations on TER! In Germany we have a general hourly frequency on most regional lines, in France you get a...

It's always a shame to hear of staff arguing around like this, especially as deescalation techniques taught at least to us conductors in Germany strongly advise against doing do . I would complain directly to Trenord. (and apologies for my blunt wording on the previous version of this post)

the riding in the cab sounds normal by itallian standards. But the dispatch sounds rather odd given that the Flirts heading to Lugano would have light barriers (and therefore would allow DOO). The most we would do in Germany is key the local door open but the rest is down to the driver.

I would work out if an Interrail Pass is more cost effective, it certainly is for me when heading towards the UK and I want to do an additional trip on the NR network.

The EC's don't tend to run during strike. BRB run hourly regional trains to Kufstein and from then onwards there are frequent services to Innsbruck

Odd to hear this about ZSSK staff, usually a very friendly bunch. Once had an odd one between Marchegg and Bratislava who claimed I needed a reservation to use the REX, it is not even possible to reserve on those services. He wanted 30 euros but I argued back in German and he soon buggered off...

The Go Ahead brand will only be able to stay temporarily. A new brand will be worked on once the sale is complete. It remains to be seen how closely OBB will get involved with the new subsidiary but knowing them they like to put their own mark on things. The mood amongst staff has improved a lot...

Main issues having worked as a conductor on the Go Ahead Allgäu network (Munich-Buchloe-Memmingen-Lindau) since December 2021: Single track line with passing loops at stations, too many trains and not enough slack in the timetable (Germany seems to prefer advertising how fast trains might get...

From my experience it depends on the type of train. At my op (Go Ahead Bayern) the driver is responsible for operating the doors, but the contracts specify the onboard supervisors do a 'service view' out of the passenger doors. DB Regio is the same but Transdev BRB and Alex still give safety...

On the German rail forums you can find the diagrams of n wagenn coaches hauled by locos. https://www.drehscheibe-online.de/foren/read.php?006,9180123