From comments on my blog and conversations with friends and family in the UK, I know that there is a persistent myth about my country in many a head: Germany has a reliable public transport system with trains running like a well-oiled machine all over the country.
Sorry, folks - that is but a myth, and has not been true for a long time (if ever).
I was born in 1968, and so for my entire childhood and youth was familiar with trains and stations being run and staffed by civil servants. Train trips were not an everyday thing for me back then, but when they did happen, I remember them as exciting. In my memory, there are no massive delays or any other hiccups in such journeys.
Only when in 1992 I took a job outside my hometown did I start to use public transport on a daily basis. Two years later, the transformation from civil agency to enterprise had begun, and trains (both local and long distance) had started to run less efficiently and with occasional delays.
This has been getting worse ever since. Year by year, Deutsche Bahn (as it is now called, or simply "Bahn") publish their statistics on punctuality. For long distance trains, only about 70 % of trains are punctual - and keep in mind that "punctual" for their statistics means anything up to six minutes behind schedule. In my eyes, that is not punctual; often enough, I have only seven minutes to change trains, and if those seven minutes are curtailed even just by one or two minutes, it can be a problem to catch the connection, especially when you have to cross a large station moving from platform 16 to platform 2 with lots of people and their luggage trying to do the same.
Sticking to their own timetable is not the Bahn's only problem. Trains are often running without one or two of their planned carriages, meaning that if you have booked a seat in a particular coach, you may be left without a seat and lose money. Claiming a refund is a lengthy and cumbersome process, and people often decide against it.
At other times, trains are not just late but completely cancelled, or because of their delay, someone somewhere decides to skip two or three stops to make up for the lost time. That happened to me not long ago, and of course I learned of that only at the last minute so that I had to completely re-plan my trip (and lost my booked seat).
Some of the trains are old, but even the new ones keep having technical issues: doors that do not open, air conditioning or toilets that do not work and so on. On trains with a bistro (I hesitate to call it restaurant), it is not unusual for them to run out of basic provisions such as milk, which many passengers want in their coffee. The latter seems a minor issue, but is just one more sign of how much is not in order in this large enterprise - a consequence of decades of saving on staff and not investing properly in infrastructure.
There are plans to improve (there have always been), but real improvements remain to be seen.
One part of the Bahn I can not complain about is their staff: Whenever I have occasion to observe them at work (on a train, at a station or on the phone), they are very friendly and try their best to help. I wouldn't want their job, as I know they have to deal with a lot - unfriendly passengers blaming them wrongly for a delay is an everyday thing for them, and sometimes anger turns to aggression.
So, have I managed now to dispel that myth?
Anyway, wish me good luck for tonight's trip from Ludwigsburg to Offenburg!
As you have found out that very often whenever a national service goes into private hands the profit motive comes into play and as a result services suffer, Also if a private company has the franchise for a limited period then investment is often minimal. We have experienced the same in the UK. Fortunately for Wales the rail network is now owned by Transport for Wales, a non profit co., owned by the Welsh Government and already there is a massive investment in the infrastructure and rolling stock.
ReplyDeleteSo true, Dave; and while it is completely legitimate for a private company wanting to make profit (they have to pay wages, after all, and want to keep going), when it is at the cost of the service they are supposed to provide, things go downhill very quickly.
DeleteWe have been watching the same thing happening with hospitals in the past twenty years or so.
This is an honest appraisal. It goes to show that privatisation isn't always a recipe for better service. In fact there's a lot of unproven mythology surrounding privatisation. Creaming off profits is hardly something that will underpin better efficiency. Will you be visiting the Stadtkirche whilst in Offenburg? It's on the Trip Advisor list of "Things to do in Offenburg".
ReplyDeleteExactly; see my reply to Dave.
DeleteI have walked past the Stadtkirche many times, but I have never been inside. When I arrive late on Friday evening, O.K. picks me up at the station and all we want is drive to the village and have something to eat at home.
In the summer, we like to go into Offenburg for an ice cream or (in non-Covid times) a spot of shopping.
PS: I wonder if Trip Advisor knows about the secret underground world of Offenburg? I posted about it back in 2017:
Deletehttps://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.com/2017/12/going-underground.html
Welcome to our world of late and cancelled train journeys with no warning!
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, my experience with trains in the UK (mainly going from Manchester Airport to Harrogate and back) has been almost entirely very good. I distinctly remember our last trip in 2019, when the train left Leeds exactly as scheduled - and I mean exactly, as the second was showing on the big digital clock on the platform.
DeleteAsk anybody who used BR in the '70s and they will tell you about late trains and a dreadful service. There are also myths surrounding train services before privatisation. I have used German trains many times and had a mixed service of lateness, cancellations and some on time.
ReplyDeleteMixed service; that's what I keep getting. When things run smoothly, I really enjoy my train rides. I lean back and either read or look out of the window. Along the routes I regularly travel, I have favourite places I watch out for.
DeleteI am open to refutation, but I do not believe an efficient national railway can be run like any other business.
ReplyDeleteBritish Rail was privatised in the dying days of John Major's Conservative government.
Mrs Thatcher only made one official journey by train as Prime Minister, and she pushed for more lorry transport of commercial goods, thus increasing road congestion.
Late trains and poor service bedevilled British Rail: under investment, mediocre management, low morale among the work-force all played their part.
Under investment during the Thatcher years played a critical role in Major's privatisation scheme.
Now we have unmanned stations, with women fearing for their safety at night.
Women I have spoken to do not feel safe on trains or buses, so the car is everything.
Victorian train companies in Britain could make a profit before the motor car became the preferred means of transport. Is it possible today if you want a reliable and safe national train service? Tony Blair lacked the guts to bring our railways back into public ownership. And our roads are more and more congested every day.
JH
From what I know about Switzerland and Japan, both countries manage to keep their train services at a very high standard. Japan I've never been to, but Switzerland is close by and I've actually been on a few trains there in the Zurich area - all arrived on the dot, were clean, and ticket prices moderate.
DeleteWe have many unmanned stations here, and I understand people not feeling safe there at night. With me living in town, it does not feel less safe at the station than in other parts around the centre - but maybe that's just me, generally not particularly worried anyway. I know that some of my readers would never walk alone as far away from houses as I do.
From a quick glance at Wikipedia it looks like the Swiss invested public money in their trains. The Canadian train service is nationalised.
DeleteI doubt if the safety of unmanned stations at night ever entered the heads of the members of John Major's government who were out to line their pockets.
Remember, too, the major train disasters following privatisation.
The novelist Nina Bawden, a member of the Labour Party since her days at Oxford (and a magistrate on local courts) rescinded her Labour membership after Blair refused to renationalise the railways. Nina's beloved husband was killed in one of the major train disasters, and she was very badly injured.
Short-termism is our fatal flaw. Amazon is destroying retail and making the roads more congested as white vans ferry ordered goods and returned goods. Amazon is a tax-free operation. The corruption of our politicians in allowing them to operate tells me we are being governed by spivs on the make.
JH
I didn‘t know that about Nina Bawden. As a child, I read her The Secret Passage and loved it; it stayed with me for so long that about 10 years ago, I looked for it on ebay, bought it and re-read it.
DeleteOn my walks, I frequently see the navy blue Amazon Prime vans. If ordering online meant people make less use of their own cars for their shopping trip, that would be good for the roads, but of course that is not the case. And any purchase made online is one less for the local shops. On the other hand, I do understand people choosing online shopping; often, the things they want are not available locally, plus shopping on premises is not much fun these days, what with wearing masks etc.
I was in favour of privatisation in the early days, at least in the sense that I subscribed to shares in it. I now think it has been a terrible mistake.
ReplyDeleteI was not following the debates at the time, but I guess sensible arguments were made. As is so often the case, things don‘t turn out quite as planned.
DeleteHarold Macmillan (1894-1986) the first Earl of Stockton, rebuked Margaret Thatcher as he stood in the House of Lords.
ReplyDeleteSupermac accused her of selling off the family silver as she pushed ahead with privatising Britain's public utilities.
For those living outside Britain, Harold Macmillan was Conservative Prime Minister from 1957-63. He was an officer in the trenches in World War I, received a serious wound from which he suffered all his life. Thatcher dismissed him as past his great days.
It is daunting to read Meike's post: if the Germans can't run a reliable train service then we are all in trouble.
JH
Its interesting to compare the Conservative politicians of the 1940's and 1950's with those of today and in those times they had the country's interest at heart whereas today self interest seems to dominate their actions. This national interest and their actions and policies appealed to many from all sides of the social spectrum.
DeleteYou may have started something here Meike, but the bottom line is whatever system is in place we, the public, dont want services to suffer.
And legitimately so. When I pay for a service or a product, I can rightly expect it to be worth it. If I were providing such a patchy service to my clients, I would not have any clients left.
DeleteYour post and the comments are so interesting. This is a subject I knew nothing about. Thank you for taking the time to write about it.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, Nan. It‘s been on my mind for a long time, and something that affects my life on a weekly, if not almost daily, base.
DeleteIndeed, thank you Librarian for this most interesting thread.
DeleteYou are welcome, Jill.
DeleteWell that is just very sad. My experience was in the 70s and 80s and after British Rail seemed wonderful. The Swiss trains were even better. I recall being impressed with buying tickets from machines which weren't checked before boarding. I wondered how they didn't loose money that way, till I encountered a leather clad scary bloke who was the ticket inspector. No way would anyone not gave had the correct ticket.
ReplyDeleteYour memory of a leather clad scary bloke as the ticket inspector made me smile. Here, railway staff are still mostly wearing navy blue uniforms; we frequently get to see police at the stations but not even they are leather clad.
DeletePrivatization simply has not worked for any program I have ever encountered. Right now, there is a drive to privatize our mail system. I wonder that people never seem to learn. Look at our health care system. Our prison system. Our roads system. I feel as if I'm watching the country fall apart.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like that from the outside, too, Debby, and is worrying.
DeleteSomehow I have not yet given up hope that those who are in charge will see reason and change their tack - at least some of them.
Debbie, Meike and others.
DeleteTry to get hold of a paperback:
*The Economists' Hour - How the False Prophets of Free Markets Fractured Our Society*.
The author is Binyamin Appelbaum, who has written on business for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Times of London.
JH
Thank you Haggerty. I will look for that book.
DeleteSounds a lot like Sweden, I'm sad to say (for both our sakes) For me personally it's been so long now since I last tried to travel by train that I'm not even sure how one goes about it to book a ticket these days. (There are other reasons as well that it has been a long time since I last went anywhere by train - but not trusting the trains to be reliable any more is one of them.)
ReplyDeleteYour town seems to have a good bus network; at least you mention on your blog using buses for various appointments or even "just so", like when you want to go walking at the lake.
DeleteGetting from A to B by car is just as unreliable; sometimes it takes O.K. 2 hours or more to drive the 150 km from his place to mine or back, what with several roadwork sites along the way and generally a lot of traffic.
Take it in the spirit it's meant, Meike: You are so German about trains being on time you could pass as Swiss.
ReplyDeleteU
Well, I happen to BE German - not by choice, but by birth.
DeleteRegardless of one's politics which often require one to have view about whether public or private ownership is better all services will have flaws simply because society is imperfect and this translates into the way we operate everything from out trains to our health service and from our Tesco (cheap) to our Coop (socially aware - before it sold off all its farms etc). The Japanese have a completely different way of looking at things in general and my understanding is that their railways are largely private and amongst the most efficient and on-time in the world. However, trains are used a great deal more in Japan than in most European countries where the motor car plays a bigger role. What I'm basically saying is nothing is ever simple.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Graham; few things really are simple, and this entire subject definitely is not one of them.
DeleteMuch of the decline of a once reliable service has to do with the car being Germany's holy grail in many respects. After all, it was invented in this country (and pretty much in my area, too). For decades, it was THE object of desire for most people; it was always suggested that it was not just a symbol of individual freedom and prestige, but also the way forward into a bright future. Just look at the way cities have been altered (or newly planned) in the period spanning the 1950s to very recently; the car-friendly city is still pretty much the norm. Unless the view of individual traffic undergoes a drastic change for the vast majority, I'm afraid not much will improve.