German railways are not all they are made out to be

[whole diary]

[eXPassenger]

From the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/20/trains-on-time-germans-deutsche-bahn-railway

Cancelled trains, lengthy delays, cracked bridges and wildcat strikes by disgruntled employees – a trail of chaos in recent months has caused Deutsche Bahn (DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about)) to become the butt of jokes and withering complaints.
Once the pride of the German state that owns it and the envy of much of the rest of the world, Germany’s national rail network is showing considerable signs of strain and decline amid accusations of chronic underinvestment in its infrastructure.
Transport watchers say the rail network is in danger of plunging to reliability levels familiar to British commuters but alien to Germans who for years took punctuality for granted.
Deutsche Bahn transports 2 billion customers a year and is the largest rail operator in Europe. At its peak, 95% of German trains ran on time, whereas at one point this year that figure slumped to just a third.
...
Germany’s Pro Rail Alliance, an amalgamation of non-profit NGOs and businesses, says 90% of Germans support its call for more investment. It argues that despite a big financial injection in recent years, Germany’s €69 per capita spending in rail infrastructure still lags far behind that of comparable countries such as Britain (€165) and Switzerland (€362).

I thought that the level of government investment was interesting.

[TonyK]

They can't really blame Brexit.

[simonw]

Is that total government investment in German Railways.

Last time I was in Germany I saw signs about German Rail Investment by Federal, State and City authorities (rail link from airport to city).

[Noggin]

I believe that DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) only runs something like 60% of German rail services. 

[4064ReadingAbbey]

I believe that DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) only runs something like 60% of German rail services. 

DB AG runs (practically)[1] all the Fernzüge, that is the long distance (e.g., Munich - Berlin) trains which cross the borders between the Länder, being the ICE and IC^▸ (Inter City) trains. These are sponsored by the Federal Government although the Fernzüge are just profitable.

The trains which run solely within the Länder (or just over the border to the neighbouring Land) are sponsored and paid for by the Land. These run competitions for a package of routes and number of trains over a five or seven year period. Although DB Regio has won some competitions in many cases these routes are run by private operators.

Much freight is still operated by DB Cargo but there are many, in the order of fifty or so, private freight operators. These often concentrate on certain flows for one or a small group of customers and some run long distance freights from, for example, the Alps to Hamburg or Rotterdam.

[1] There are only two or four train-pairs at the moment run by a subsidiary of Flixbus (the long distance coach operator) although IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) Leo, a Czech operator, is also looking to get into the market. See <https://www.leoexpress.com/de>

[onthecushions]

On a visit in 2009, my Berliner Morgenpost headline read:

"Chaos auf Bahnhofen - VBB-Chef: 'Situation ausser Kontrolle' "

OTC

[stuving]

On a visit in 2009, my Berliner Morgenpost headline read:

"Chaos auf Bahnhofen - VBB-Chef: 'Situation ausser Kontrolle' "

OTC

...but that, presumably, was about the Berlin S-Bahn (not DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about)) and its famous "crisis" of 2009:

Restricting services after wheel disc’s breakage

Following the fateful breaking of a wheel disc on 1 May 2009, an in-depth survey was carried out to assess just how much stress vehicles’ wheels could cope with, a process which also saw the involvement of Germany’s Federal Rail Authority (EBA). The findings were troubling. The fatigue strength of the wheel discs fell well short of the manufacturer’s claims and the requirements stipulated by EBA, and they would require replacement as a result.

In early-June 2009, S-Bahn Berlin informed EBA that it would replace its trains’ wheels ahead of schedule and substantially reduce its inspection intervals. The company had to cut vehicle availability by some 50 quarter-trains, and scores of lines had to make do with shorter trains.

According to an EBA audit from the end of June 2009, the rail operator had overshot the agreed inspection intervals time and again. This had the consequence of removing another 150 quarter-trains from service immediately. The combined impact of this and the requirement to send trains for inspection on time was immense: only some 300 quarter-trains were now available for operation, so overall services had to be severely curtailed.

In mid-July 2009, EBA issued another ruling demanding additional safety checks. As a result, only one third of the total fleet – some 165 vehicles – was in operation for a two-week period. Services were completely suspended on the key east-west line through the city centre and on numerous peripheral routes. Regional trains from other German states were brought in so regional services that followed S-Bahn routes could help counteract the shutdowns, while restricted operations were imposed on other S-Bahn lines. It was not possible to use S-Bahn vehicles from elsewhere in Germany because of the Berlin network’s unique power system.

Due to the cracks and inadequate strength plaguing wheel discs and axles, the wheelsets of every single class had to be replaced with stronger components. For the class 481 alone, this amounted to 4,000 wheelsets for all 500 quarter-trains. All replacements were completed by the end of 2011, entailing a cost to the company of €50 million for class 481.

Of course it's still evidence of how well-run German railways in general have been in the past  ... or not.

[TonyK]

Four sprung duck technique, now! I say.

[onthecushions]

...and there was the Enschede ICE crash in 1998, again with a dodgy wheel, that killed 101.

Amongst other things DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) had ignored a Fraunhofer Institute report.

Would we have done any better?

OTC

[stuving]

...and there was the Enschede ICE crash in 1998, again with a dodgy wheel, that killed 101.

Amongst other things DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) had ignored a Fraunhofer Institute report.

Would we have done any better?

OTC

... at finding wheels that stay intact, or at Schadenfreude?

[Worcester_Passenger]

We went to Munich and back a couple of weeks ago. All three of our long-distance journeys ran late:

    Dec 5 : London - Koblenz : 22 late into Koblenz
    Dec 6 : Koblenz - Munich : 20 late
    Dec 12 : Munich - Bruxelles : 30 late (though that was caused by something having gone wrong on the Belgian high-speed line)

Difficult to tell from our experience why it's all gone wrong.

We were ten minutes late on the Koblenz - Mannheim leg. We ask the train manager whether we'll make the ten-minute connection at Mannheim.  He advises that we move 2-3 coaches up the train so as to be closer to the subway.  Others join us, and we end up like the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

And I'm now pretty familiar with the German for "the train is running in reverse order today". Just under half our trains were back-to-front.

But this isn't new - DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) has been a poor operator for some time now. In recent years we've endured an overnight in Bruxelles (at our expense) because DB hadn't noticed that there was going to be a strike in Belgium.  And an overnight in Munich because there was no driver in Frankfurt. That one was at their expense, on a Friday night on the last weekend of Oktoberfest and it must've cost DB an arm and a leg.

I'm sure it's the regular drip-drip-drip of this sort of experience that is the source of the anger.

[didcotdean]

I recounted my poor experience with DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) Regio in the summer here.

The Brussels-Cologne (and beyond) DB ICE service goes through periods of being very unreliable, and despite 'Railteam' promises the co-operation between them and Thalys on the ground in practice can be very poor during these spells (somewhat like Hull Trains and LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about)!). Most common issues are because the DB train is turned round short because of earlier delays elsewhere or that the train throws a wobbly when it changes from German to Belgium standards, especially for ERTMS^▸ (European Rail Traffic Management System.) . Since this is a long thin route, if it has been cancelled out of Germany there is nothing in place to do the return trip.