German Rail in decline ?

[Krokodil]

Found him. He wasn't the model of customer service, but did at least say that the connection would be made, and that the French couple who should have met the sleeper at München Ost could board at Augsburg.

 

[nwales58]

From experience, conductor saying Anschluss wird erreicht is a forecast rather than a guarantee. Platforms 3 and 4 but isn't that different islands?

 

[rvdborgt]

From experience, conductor saying Anschluss wird erreicht is a forecast rather than a guarantee.

Same for "Anschluss kann leider nicht warten". It might still be there...

Platforms 3 and 4 but isn't that different islands?

Correct, see Openrailwaymap. But it looks like the connection worked.

 

[nwales58]

6 minutes if the online info is correct.

DB's banana-shaped 6-8h runs are great for connectivity but also sweep up delays from all over the country and propagate them to the rest of the country.

 

[Krokodil]

Yes, everyone made it

 

[YorkshireBear]

Same happened to us on the exact same sleeper in November, except we were lucky and it was only 9 minutes earlier. We showed the ticket to check it was the same one and they just rolled their eyes and said, nobody told you? Us and about 10 other people as the service number had changed too.

Yes, everyone made it

Glad it worked out!

 

[Jamesrob637]

Found him. He wasn't the model of customer service, but did at least say that the connection would be made, and that the French couple who should have met the sleeper at München Ost could board at Augsburg.

Germans to a T. They'll tell you what you need to know, but rarely go the extra mile. Suits most perfectly, myself included.

 

[peteb]

Judging by the hordes at Lübeck this afternoon I'd say not in decline as far as usage is concerned. However the introduction of woefully inadequate new rolling stock is contributing to a severe decline in customer comfort, safety and punctuality. Today's trip from Bremen to Kiel was via two loco hauled double decker rakes. Busy but most got a seat. Time keeping good. Problems at Lubeck on the Polish- bound Szczecin service at 1402, a 2 car unit which left 100+ behind. Took 15 minutes to off-load and refill with only one door per carriage. 1503 following service 4 car but wedged with those unable to get on 1402. Goodness knows how 200+ people about to be abandoned at Bad Kleinen (middle of nowhere) will complete their journeys, as the 1602 Polish-bound from Lübeck is only a 2 car unit.....

 

[The exile]

Judging by the hordes at Lübeck this afternoon I'd say not in decline as far as usage is concerned. However the introduction of woefully inadequate new rolling stock is contributing to a severe decline in customer comfort, safety and punctuality. Today's trip from Bremen to Kiel was via two loco hauled double decker rakes. Busy but most got a seat. Time keeping good. Problems at Lubeck on the Polish- bound Szczecin service at 1402, a 2 car unit which left 100+ behind. Took 15 minutes to off-load and refill with only one door per carriage. 1503 following service 4 car but wedged with those unable to get on 1402. Goodness knows how 200+ people about to be abandoned at Bad Kleinen (middle of nowhere) will complete their journeys, as the 1602 Polish-bound from Lübeck is only a 2 car unit.....

The introduction of new stock can only really be considered to have not alleviated the situation - whenever I used them 15 - 20 years ago, the Lübeck - Sczeczins were single 628s.

 

[RT4038]

Judging by the hordes at Lübeck this afternoon I'd say not in decline as far as usage is concerned. However the introduction of woefully inadequate new rolling stock is contributing to a severe decline in customer comfort, safety and punctuality. Today's trip from Bremen to Kiel was via two loco hauled double decker rakes. Busy but most got a seat. Time keeping good. Problems at Lubeck on the Polish- bound Szczecin service at 1402, a 2 car unit which left 100+ behind. Took 15 minutes to off-load and refill with only one door per carriage. 1503 following service 4 car but wedged with those unable to get on 1402. Goodness knows how 200+ people about to be abandoned at Bad Kleinen (middle of nowhere) will complete their journeys, as the 1602 Polish-bound from Lübeck is only a 2 car unit.....

But I thought it was only Britain's railways that were so bad as to have overcrowding problems....? I rode an XC in the afternoon peak on Thursday, 17h26 from Coventry to Basingstoke. Easily got a double seat at Coventry, and past Reading there were only 2 pax in my carriage.

 

[peteb]

The introduction of new stock can only really be considered to have not alleviated the situation - whenever I used them 15 - 20 years ago, the Lübeck - Sczeczins were single 628s.

Ha ha, so they've actually doubled the capacity!!

 

[duesselmartin]

I always wonder how many people use that Sczecin service over a long distance? Travel time and stock is totally unsuitable to travel in comfort.

 

[peteb]

I always wonder how many people use that Sczecin service over a long distance? Travel time and stock is totally unsuitable to travel in comfort.

Judging by the number of Polish people on the train I would think a lot would go the whole way! They mostly changed onto a Rostock loco hauled service at Bad Kleinen and, fair play to DB, they held our Schwerin connection too, (also a loco hauled RE double deck set).

I think the engineering works south of Schwerin maybe caused a lot of travel via Lübeck this bank holiday (Thurs) and on into the weekend.

 

[poffle]

DeutschlandTicket has caused big upsurge in users on regional trains. Pretty normal now in Germany for REs to be heaving in touristy areas. Also the REs get passengers going end to end who might have previously used an IC. And then the bike tourists.

 

[peteb]

You are right about cyclists. There were over 20 bikes trying to get on the 2-car 1402 Lübeck to Szczecin! Several failed and got 1503 instead. Incidentally the Bremen Hamburg double deckers have half a carriage just for bikes. This morning it was nearly full.

DeutschlandTicket has caused big upsurge in users on regional trains. Pretty normal now in Germany for REs to be heaving in touristy areas. Also the REs get passengers going end to end who might have previously used an IC. And then the bike tourists.

 

[Jamesrob637]

May is big on German Feiertage, with all of the 1st, 9th and 20th being public holidays. That will put transport to the test.

 

[Krokodil]

But I thought it was only Britain's railways that were so bad as to have overcrowding problems....? I rode an XC in the afternoon peak on Thursday, 17h26 from Coventry to Basingstoke. Easily got a double seat at Coventry, and past Reading there were only 2 pax in my carriage.

The fact that a single ticket from Coventry to Oxford (never mind Reading or Basingstoke) costs the same as an entire month's worth of travel on regional trains across the whole of Germany probably has something to do with it.

 

[The exile]

DeutschlandTicket has caused big upsurge in users on regional trains. Pretty normal now in Germany for REs to be heaving in touristy areas. Also the REs get passengers going end to end who might have previously used an IC. And then the bike tourists.

There was a similar near-collapse when the SWT (Schoenes Wochenende Ticket) was introduced 30+ years ago.

 

[30907]

Judging by the number of Polish people on the train I would think a lot would go the whole way! They mostly changed onto a Rostock loco hauled service at Bad Kleinen and, fair play to DB, they held our Schwerin connection too, (also a loco hauled RE double deck set).

I think the engineering works south of Schwerin maybe caused a lot of travel via Lübeck this bank holiday (Thurs) and on into the weekend.

There are different problems today (lineside fire?) but no obvious evidence of delays due to crowding, even though the direct Hamburg-Schwerin(-Rostock) service is part-bustituted all week as peteb has mentioned.