German Rail in decline ?

[duesselmartin]

In Germany its infrastructure in general that is underfunded. Motorways are in a poor state, digital infrastructure is lagging behind.

 

[nwales58]

Well the A66 bridge at Wiesbaden is now, partially, open again. HGVs can even cross the Rhein on the A1 again after 10 years (UK: imagine the M6 Warrington viaduct had been closed to HGVs for a decade).

Edit: I shouldn't be so damning, at least there is now a new bridge. In Britain we might have spent a couple of years dithering trying to max-risk-load a PFI. Look! no cost to the taxpayer! Then the contractor could then have milked the toll revenue for 8 years before going bust á la Carillion leaving a half-built bridge for the taxpayer to pick up the pieces.

Pity about the backlog of other 1960s-1970s motorways that need billions spending on them. And smaller messes such as the Ludwigshafen Hochstrasse ...

My point is, the German rail network actually isn't doing too badly if you compare it with the road network, federal and local.

 

[Richard Scott]

In Germany its infrastructure in general that is underfunded. Motorways are in a poor state, digital infrastructure is lagging behind.

Digressing slightly I know a lad who went to do his year in Germany as part of his degree and was asked to do a presentation in a school about use of ICT I UK schools. They couldn't believe how much tech UK schools have!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Digressing slightly I know a lad who went to do his year in Germany as part of his degree and was asked to do a presentation in a school about use of ICT I UK schools. They couldn't believe how much tech UK schools have!

For all I might be a Teutonophile I have noted having gone there recently that in many ways the country has stagnated in about 1999-2000ish.

 

[YorkRailFan]

The hydrogen affair in the Wissing Ministry now also has financial consequences: For the time being, no new money will be approved for funding projects of this type. The background is the suspicion of nepotism. The Federal Ministry of Transport is no longer approving any new funds for hydrogen funding for the time being. This emerges from an internal letter from State Secretary Stefan Schnorr, which was available to the dpa news agency. The “Spiegel” first reported about it.

The letter went on to say that no contracts on the subject of hydrogen should be entered into until further notice. In the event of a "material and temporal irrefutability", a justified exception can only be made after approval by the state secretary level.Suspicion of irregularities in the allocation of funds

Last week, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing drew personnel consequences due to possible irregularities in the allocation of funding.The FDP politician relieved the head of the hydrogen department, Klaus Bonhoff, of his duties with immediate effect. The reason given was that the “necessary relationship of trust between the minister and the department head no longer exists.” In addition, Bonhoff will be transferred within the ministry. The affair was triggered by media reports that Bonhoff had funded hydrogen projects worth millions in 2021 - with close personal connections to the beneficiaries. At that time, he is said to have provided a lobbyist friend with millions in funding for hydrogen projects. The allegations first became known last summer.

The Ministry of Transport then launched an internal investigation. However, the final report presented in December concluded that there was “no undue influence” on procurement procedures.Doubts about the investigation reportSchnorr now explained that, based on further media reports, it emerged that the department had not forwarded all the necessary documents and emails to the internal audit department. Last week, “Spiegel” reported again on the allegations, which date back to 2021, when Andreas Scheuer (CSU) was still Federal Transport Minister.

The magazine quoted emails from Bonhoff that cast doubt on the portrayal in the investigation report. The Ministry of Transport has now stated that these emails were not handed over to the internal auditors and therefore could not be included in the final report. Wissing's State Secretary Schnorr made it clear that the ministry felt deceived. Hence Bonhoff's dismissal. The case could be just as explosive for Minister Wissing as the Graichen case was for Minister Habeck. The former State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Patrick Graichen, also had to vacate his post in spring 2023 following allegations of nepotism in connection with funding projects.

Verkehrsministerium stoppt neue Projekte für Wasserstoff

Die Wasserstoff-Affäre im Wissing-Ministerium hat nun auch finanzielle Folgen: Vorerst werden keine neuen Gelder für Förderprojekte dieser Art bewilligt. Hintergrund ist der Verdacht der Vetternwirtschaft.

www.tagesschau.de

Translated to English using the translation feature on the article. What took them so long to realise H2 isn't the solution? Battery is a great short-term solution until the line can be electrified.

 

[AdamWW]

Verkehrsministerium stoppt neue Projekte für Wasserstoff

Die Wasserstoff-Affäre im Wissing-Ministerium hat nun auch finanzielle Folgen: Vorerst werden keine neuen Gelder für Förderprojekte dieser Art bewilligt. Hintergrund ist der Verdacht der Vetternwirtschaft.

www.tagesschau.de

Translated to English using the translation feature on the article. What took them so long to realise H2 isn't the solution? Battery is a great short-term solution until the line can be electrified.

Meanwhile (not Germany, although German speaking, but it made me curious how this was going...)

https://www.railwaygazette.com/hydrogen/tirol-endorses-zillertalbahn-hydrogen-project/64420.article

AUSTRIA: The Tirol provincial government has formerly endorsed proposals to convert the 760 mm gauge Zillertalbahn to hydrogen traction, whilst acknowledging that conventional overhead electrification would have been cheaper.

and

Zillertaler Verkehrsbetriebe’s Chief Technology Officer Helmut Schreiner was dismissed on June 22, after it was confirmed that he did not possess the academic qualifications he had claimed.

(Fascinating railway, by the way - 760 mm gauge with some double track)

 

[YorkRailFan]

Meanwhile (not Germany, although German speaking, but it made me curious how this was going...)

https://www.railwaygazette.com/hydrogen/tirol-endorses-zillertalbahn-hydrogen-project/64420.article

and


(Fascinating railway, by the way - 760 mm gauge with some double track)

*Complete Facepalm* As someone who is half-Austrian, this is just an embarrassment to the country.

 

[nwales58]

ZB trivia: you can see a train alongside a signpost to Hell (a campsite), Jenbach has 3 gauges (metre gauge rack/adhesion across the way) and half the standard gauge tracks tunnel underneath (much of the Inntalbahn upgrade is in tunnel)

Back in Germany, the surprise was the FDP; the whiff of corruption around mega contracts traditionally belongs to the CDU/CSU. However, we have Medpro PPE and the 'VIP lane' scandal.

If Brussels-Köln-Frankfurt really does become reliable enough from June to use in a long journey with several connections I shall stop moaning.

 

[Austriantrain]

If Brussels-Köln-Frankfurt really does become reliable enough from June to use in a long journey with several connections I shall stop moaning.

Doubtful. The new trains will certainly eliminate a major source of unreliability, but the general tendency towards large delays of DB will remain. In Austria, while the ICE sets (411) generally work fine, trains still are delayed, often by large amounts, and nobody plans on using them on domestic journeys (except for morning departures from Vienna when the sets have been there overnight).

 

[Goldfish62]

After being at the receiving end of DB's unreliability many times, I've just spent a week in Germany travelling on several services across ICE, IC, EC, RE, RB and S Bahn and everything has been bang on time to the minute! Even the Brussels to Cologne ICE was on time.

 

[Austriantrain]

After being at the receiving end of DB's unreliability many times, I've just spent a week in Germany travelling on several services across ICE, IC, EC, RE, RB and S Bahn and everything has been bang on time to the minute! Even the Brussels to Cologne ICE was on time.

It’s not that they have forgotten how to do it, it’s just that the network is veryintensely used for mixed traffic, has little slack left and much redundancy removed over the last decades, and a huge maintenance backlog.

It can be seen on the „Austrian corridor route“ Salzburg- Rosenheim - Kufstein - considered as one of the better maintained parts of the DB network (because of very much Austrian pressure), and yet it is vastly less resilient than the Austrian routes on either side (bi-directional signaling, lots of crossovers and passing places). If everything works, than it’s perfect, but it falls to pieces easily.

 

[duesselmartin]

DB and GDL negotiations ended without agreement. Strikes are inminent.

Link is in German.

Tarifstreit: Bahn-Verhandlungen mit GDL gescheitert

Bei der Bahn drohen neue Streiks. Die GDL hat die Tarifverhandlungen abgebrochen. Die Gewerkschaft habe sich keinen Millimeter bewegt, beklagte Bahn-Vorstand Seiler.

www.zeit.de

 

[YorkRailFan]

There is a threat of new strikes at the railways. The GDL has broken off collective bargaining. Railway board member Seiler complained that the union had not moved a millimeter.According to the company, the collective bargaining negotiations between the train drivers' union GDL and Deutsche Bahn have failed again. The GDL had prematurely “broken off” the negotiations, which were scheduled to last until Sunday, said a railway spokesman. Now there is a threat of new strikes. “We were prepared to take steps to reduce working hours that went far beyond our last offer,” said DB Human Resources Director Martin Seiler. However, the GDL has not moved a millimeter in the past few weeks. “It is unbelievable that the train drivers’ union is still standing up from the table and thus threatening further strikes for customers,” said Seiler. Without compromise there can be no solution to the conflict. Further concessions are not possible financially or in terms of personnel. “Demographics and a shortage of skilled workers don’t allow for more, otherwise trains will stop.”The GDL's core demands are to reduce the weekly working hours for shift workers from 38 to 35 hours and to negotiate collective agreements for parts of the infrastructure. The railway has so far rejected both.

Negotiations since November
According to the railway, the negotiations were scheduled to last until Sunday. The discussions were moderated by the former Interior and Defense Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU) and the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein Daniel Günther (CDU).

Collective bargaining began at the beginning of November. However, after the second round of talks, GDL boss Claus Weselsky declared the negotiations had failed and initiated a strike vote. Since then, the GDL has paralyzed large parts of rail traffic in Germany four times with two warning strikes and two indefinite strikes. Long-distance, regional and freight traffic were at a standstill for days.The GDL ended the latest strike early and returned to the negotiating table. Since then, we have spoken to each other behind closed doors - nothing has been made public during this time.
At the end of January, Weselsky announced that he would not go on strike again until the beginning of March . The break would be good for both sides, he said at the time. It remains to be seen whether and when strikes will occur again. The GDL has not yet commented on the termination of the negotiations.

Quoted from the link provided in post #372 using Google Translate to translate into English. Not going to be a good few weeks for DB.

DB and GDL negotiations ended without agreement. Strikes are inminent.

Link is in German.

Tarifstreit: Bahn-Verhandlungen mit GDL gescheitert

Bei der Bahn drohen neue Streiks. Die GDL hat die Tarifverhandlungen abgebrochen. Die Gewerkschaft habe sich keinen Millimeter bewegt, beklagte Bahn-Vorstand Seiler.

www.zeit.de

 

[YorkshireBear]

How soon do we think strikes will be announced. If I remember correctly they can't strike this Saturday but could do on the Sunday? Specific question as doing Cologne to Hamburg Saturday and Hamburg to Copenhagen (and beyond) on Sunday.

 

[rvdborgt]

No strikes before Monday. GDL have a press conference on Monday morning. I doubt they will call for a strike from Monday, but Tuesday or Wednesday would be more likely. They used to give 48h notice.

 

[YorkshireBear]

No strikes before Monday. GDL have a press conference on Monday morning. I doubt they will call for a strike from Monday, but Tuesday or Wednesday would be more likely. They used to give 48h notice.

Thanks for that, can probably cancel my shadow flixbus then.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Maybe the talks can agree to a fortnight's notice too, like here. Living over there must be awful at times nowadays. It's bad enough with 2 weeks or more notice.

 

[Norm_D_Ploom]

In praise of DB I travelled Dusseldorf to Hannover, ICE, no problem whatsoever. Excellent service, on time quality of train was very good.

On the way back it was again very good until we left Bochum and someone decided to trespass on the tracks.

One thing that did surprise me was that the journey was predominantly sub 200k and the stretch that was in the 200k region ( Dortmund to Bielefeld I think) was slightly rocky.

On the whole though very satisfied on the way out and 95% of the return was very good.

 

[rvdborgt]

200 km/h is Düsseldorf-Duisburg, Dortmund-Hamm-Bielefeld and Bückeburg-Hannover (passage through Wunstorf is 160). The rest is 160. You can see that on www.openrailwaymap.org.

 

[YorkshireBear]

My journey through Germany was uneventful too, on time Eurostar into Cologne, on time ICE to Hamburg and on time departure from Hamburg towards Copenhagen. No complaints. Didn't see many services announced as delayed at Köln either.

 

[Goldfish62]

My journey through Germany was uneventful too, on time Eurostar into Cologne, on time ICE to Hamburg and on time departure from Hamburg towards Copenhagen. No complaints. Didn't see many services announced as delayed at Köln either.

Don't want to speak too soon, but maybe things are being turned around. I certainly noticed fewer delays on my recent visit.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Strike announced Thursday 7 March 02:00 to Friday 8 March 23:00

 

[YorkRailFan]

Strike announced Thursday 7 March 02:00 to Friday 8 March 23:00

BERLIN, March 4 (Reuters) - German train drivers will launch a wave of strikes from Thursday, the head of the GDL union said on Monday, ramping up a long-running dispute with the national rail operator and setting the stage for nationwide travel disruption.
The first strike in passenger rail transport is to begin at 0100 GMT on Thursday and last 35 hours, GDL head Claus Weselsky said, adding that information on further strike action would follow.
"With this, we begin a so-called strike wave," he told reporters.
Weeks-long talks between GDL and Deutsche Bahn (DBN.UL) broke down last week.
The last national rail strike in late January was set to be the longest in the state-owned company's 30-year history, but ended prematurely as the economic slowdown in Germany led to pressure on GDL to return to the negotiating table.
GDL is insisting on a reduced 35-hour working week for shift workers at full pay - a demand that has been rejected by Deutsche Bahn, which accuses the union of refusing to compromise.Weselsky said the length of the first in a wave of strikes was a conscious decision to reinforce the union's demand: "35 hours so that everyone in the country realises what we are about, namely the 35-hour week.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-train-drivers-resume-strikes-thursday-union-says-2024-03-04/

Flixbus is standing in the wings for these passengers. This strike will be particularly damaging for Germany as a whole, as Verdi workers at Lufthansa are striking on the same days.

 

[wellhouse]

Don't want to speak too soon, but maybe things are being turned around. I certainly noticed fewer delays on my recent visit.

Not so good today. While waiting at Konigswinter this morning,our train was announced as 10 minutes late. Not the best news with our 11 minute connection at Koblenz to EC7 heading for Interlaken. As it happened, that was also showing a 10 minute delay, which had extended to 30 minutes by the time me we reached Koblenz. No time was recovered, and the service was cancelled at Basel. We were just about to order lunch when the announcement was made!

 

[Goldfish62]

Not so good today. Whole waiting at Konigswinter this morning,our train was announced as 10 minutes late. Not the best news with our 11 minute connection at Koblenz to EC7 heading for Interlaken. As it happened, that was also showing a 10 minute delay, which had extended to 30 minutes by the time me we reached Koblenz. No time was recovered, and the service was cancelled at Basel. We were just about to order lunch when the announcement was made!

The Swiss doing what they said they would do, and cancel any train that's late at the border.

 

[Acfb]

Do we know exactly what things will be like on Tuesday in terms of service levels on DB? I have a family member who's travelling from Munich Airport to Innsbruck. He's booked to go on the 17.44 DB EC service from Ostbahnhof to Innsbruck.

The DB trains usually run every two hours on this route and then there are the ÖBB trains as well.

I know there's the slow route via Garmisch-Partenkirchen as well but I'm just talking about this route in particular.

 

[Planesandtrain]

Do we know exactly what things will be like on Tuesday in terms of service levels on DB? I have a family member who's travelling from Munich Airport to Innsbruck. He's booked to go on the 17.44 DB EC service from Ostbahnhof to Innsbruck.

The DB trains usually run every two hours on this route and then there are the ÖBB trains as well.

I know there's the slow route via Garmisch-Partenkirchen as well but I'm just talking about this route in particular.

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

 

[Austriantrain]

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

I am not a 100% sure but I believe some EC ran during the last strikes, using ÖBB drivers. Don’t count on it though, and it will surely not be all of them.

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

Do we know exactly what things will be like on Tuesday in terms of service levels on DB?

The timetable for tomorrow should be loaded in by now, so you can check which trains run and which are cancelled

 

[Niko556]

The timetable for tomorrow should be loaded in by now, so you can check which trains run and which are cancelled

Thanks. We were due to get the sleeper from Munich to Brussels tonight but that's off. However looks like there's a 5:30ish ICE with a change in Koln, so crossing our fingers. Will go ask in Munich hbf.