F Great Eastern
Established Member
I'm currently in Germany on a trip for a week, so thought I'd share my experiences here. Will slowly add to this over the next few days.
A fair bit of new/modern/unusual things around these cities, so I thought I'd see what I can find. I'm here primarily for work reasons, but in my spare time I will be checking out many rail related things!
Munich Experiences
The class 423s operating on the Munich S Bahn are exceptional. With well thought out seating and the family semi circle seating at the end of each carriage, the other zones for prams and wheelchairs and the general ambiance of the train is second to none.
Huge screens running width of trains, with connection information for all transport modes, list of upcoming stops and arrival times with a small amount of screen used for advertising. But the most impressive thing for me was during disruption they disabled the advertising part to give full disruption information and advice, frequently updated in perfect English and German. THIS is how to use modern technology.
Also the U Bahn stock doesn't disappoint either, with the C1 trains that have been around for a while supplemented by the C2 trains built by Siemens. Clearly the C2 is based on the C1, but also there is some clear Inspiro and Siemens DNA in these trains, and they also clearly share a bit in common with the Nuremberg SIemens meto trains. They again are great trains. but no surprise. They feel a bit more modern then the C1s but there's not a huge amount of difference.
Munich Hbf is an interesting place right now, S Bahn and U Bahn underground areas are very modern with lots of shops, bakeries and a good amount of information, a pleasant place to be. However the main station is under very heavy reconstruction so is a massive building site. However as always with DB large stations, they are well signed with lots of information, plenty of ticket machines Kudos for them putting sound barriers as well to keep the noise of the work donw.
Other things noticeable in Munich were the S Bahn Layout at the hbf and other stops, where train doors open on one side for passengers boarding and on the other side ofr passengers alighting. Of course it uses double the space, but the effect on dwell times at busy stations is spectacular.
Also the Bus Train was seen on the 151, for those note in the know, it's a conventional bus, that is cabled up to what looks like another bus, but the second bus does not have any driver cab, so it's basically a trailer connected via a cable. Never seen any vehicle like this before, is it used anywhere else?
Nuremberg
First comments are they badly need some more ticket machines for the U Bahn at the airport,
The older Siemens Metro trains feel exceptionally spacious on the line from the airport. They look nice for not so new trains and feature a good PIS and another thing I haven't seen before. They have arm-rests created by molding indents into the body sides under the windows. Gives you food for thought for the class 700, if there was no room for arms to be put near windows, could it be sculpted into the body sides internally?
The new Siemens Metro trains are a triumph of style. They look absloutely beautiful outside and when you get inside they look even better, so bright, so airy, with the door outlines flashing green when opening and red when closing etc really does give them a bit of character. Built to a design by an external agency, again you can still feel the Insprio DNA, the lighting is really good too and they just feel like excellent trains, nice and quiet and I even heard some tourists say in English that it was a lovely train!
S Bahn was typical S Bahn stock that can be found in many ciites. Not as good as the Munich ones with their bells and whistles, but still good seating, good heating in the cold, and plug sockets on the wall, which was a bonus I wasn't expecting. And again, a decent PIS.
Main station was fine but didn't impress me massively, spread over a couple of levels, it felt a bit crowded and having to go up to all the platforms rather than down was a bit of a change, I guess it is a more modern station than most of the bigger cities, but I felt it lacked the character of others.
A fair bit of new/modern/unusual things around these cities, so I thought I'd see what I can find. I'm here primarily for work reasons, but in my spare time I will be checking out many rail related things!
Munich Experiences
The class 423s operating on the Munich S Bahn are exceptional. With well thought out seating and the family semi circle seating at the end of each carriage, the other zones for prams and wheelchairs and the general ambiance of the train is second to none.
Huge screens running width of trains, with connection information for all transport modes, list of upcoming stops and arrival times with a small amount of screen used for advertising. But the most impressive thing for me was during disruption they disabled the advertising part to give full disruption information and advice, frequently updated in perfect English and German. THIS is how to use modern technology.
Also the U Bahn stock doesn't disappoint either, with the C1 trains that have been around for a while supplemented by the C2 trains built by Siemens. Clearly the C2 is based on the C1, but also there is some clear Inspiro and Siemens DNA in these trains, and they also clearly share a bit in common with the Nuremberg SIemens meto trains. They again are great trains. but no surprise. They feel a bit more modern then the C1s but there's not a huge amount of difference.
Munich Hbf is an interesting place right now, S Bahn and U Bahn underground areas are very modern with lots of shops, bakeries and a good amount of information, a pleasant place to be. However the main station is under very heavy reconstruction so is a massive building site. However as always with DB large stations, they are well signed with lots of information, plenty of ticket machines Kudos for them putting sound barriers as well to keep the noise of the work donw.
Other things noticeable in Munich were the S Bahn Layout at the hbf and other stops, where train doors open on one side for passengers boarding and on the other side ofr passengers alighting. Of course it uses double the space, but the effect on dwell times at busy stations is spectacular.
Also the Bus Train was seen on the 151, for those note in the know, it's a conventional bus, that is cabled up to what looks like another bus, but the second bus does not have any driver cab, so it's basically a trailer connected via a cable. Never seen any vehicle like this before, is it used anywhere else?
Nuremberg
First comments are they badly need some more ticket machines for the U Bahn at the airport,
The older Siemens Metro trains feel exceptionally spacious on the line from the airport. They look nice for not so new trains and feature a good PIS and another thing I haven't seen before. They have arm-rests created by molding indents into the body sides under the windows. Gives you food for thought for the class 700, if there was no room for arms to be put near windows, could it be sculpted into the body sides internally?
The new Siemens Metro trains are a triumph of style. They look absloutely beautiful outside and when you get inside they look even better, so bright, so airy, with the door outlines flashing green when opening and red when closing etc really does give them a bit of character. Built to a design by an external agency, again you can still feel the Insprio DNA, the lighting is really good too and they just feel like excellent trains, nice and quiet and I even heard some tourists say in English that it was a lovely train!
S Bahn was typical S Bahn stock that can be found in many ciites. Not as good as the Munich ones with their bells and whistles, but still good seating, good heating in the cold, and plug sockets on the wall, which was a bonus I wasn't expecting. And again, a decent PIS.
Main station was fine but didn't impress me massively, spread over a couple of levels, it felt a bit crowded and having to go up to all the platforms rather than down was a bit of a change, I guess it is a more modern station than most of the bigger cities, but I felt it lacked the character of others.
