delays, track changes, brazenness -- riding trains in germany

as much as i appreciate the german public train system, it was sad and annoying to experience its incompetence this summer.

with eight out of 16 train rides throughout july and august 2010 half of them were delayed. the trips included going to leipzig, frankfurt, marburg, berlin, and hamburg -- a pretty wide net of directions.

15 rides were with Deutsche Bahn, the other one with a private train operator Interconnex, which scored one of the delays, too (of 17 minutes because of an engine defect).

the delays ranged from shorter amounts of 15 minutes (three times) and 17 minutes (twice) to longer delays of 25 minutes, to 55 and 56 minutes (each case once). but only once i had a case for reimbursement.

sometimes the delays are announced ahead of time on the platform. at least then you know you're day is screwed up. sometimes the train stops in the middle of the track. then it takes them at least another 15 minutes to 30 minutes to tell you when you will arrive. sometimes it's corrected to an even later time later. sometimes the platform changes and nobody tells you. sometimes they tell you but change the platform twice within minutes.

in one case it was clear from the start that because of the delay of the initial train i would not catch my connecting train. luckily a friend could give me a car ride to the next city which was an hour away.

in another case the train stopped at a station closed to leipzig which also featured a street car station. the delay was not announced before the start of the journey. suddenly according to the train conductor a construction site had popped up on the track that he didn't know of before. some fellow travelers knew about a street car station nearby. but the service woman on the train had to be convinced to pick up her company cell phone in order to make a call to find out how close the streetcar station is to the train station where we were stranded.

first, she said she doesn't know. then she said her colleagues at the main station don't know. after i suggested that one of her colleagues might be able to call the local public transportation people in leipzig, she finally punched some numbers. turns out, the Deutsche Bahn company wouldn't reimburse the street car tickets anyway.

in order to get something you have to prove that you were at least 61 minutes late between your starting point and your destination. then the Deutsche Bahn reimburses half the ticket price. remember the case in which i was delayed 55 minutes? yes, that doesn't count for reimbursement.

and you always hear a voice over the loudspeaker system on board: "we apologize for the delay and thank you for your understanding and patience."

for proper evidence that you are entitled for reimbursement, the service personnel is supposed to give you a receipt confirming the delay. alas, they lie to you, too. in one case i reached my destination exactly 61 minutes late. anticipating that i might have a case here i asked the service man to give me a confirmation. the reply: "you don't need one. everyone knows this railway control center is burnt down."

arriving at my final destination, the lady at the information booth apparently hadn't heard the news yet. but yes, i do need the slip. and oh, by the way, she doesn't belong to Deutsche Bahn anyway but is a private self-employed ticket seller.

she did give me a long sheet of paper to fill out. i am sending it away these days. but, she warned, reimbursement takes at least a quarter of a year if it goes through. (how does she know if she isn't working for Deutsche Bahn?)

at least the Deutsche Bahn didn't try to grill me. which cannot be said for nine passengers who landed in hospital because air conditioning of the Deutsche Bahn trains couldn't cope with the heat wave that plagued germany in july.

curious how it is to ride on a u.s. train? follow me on my first journey with one of the amtrak trains from portland, oregon to kelso, washington.

url: http://iamericansequel.blogspot.com/2010/08/toot-toot-here-comes-union-pacific-and.html