Derailed: Germany's $60BN Railway Rescue Plan

[@TheB1M]

Find out how Enscape Impact can help your next project 👉 bit.ly/3VqBGtS

[@-IE_it_yourself]

yikes, those are some ugly buildings.

[@chuck9693]

@IE 💀

[@grigorione7824]

golf clap... ' rail ' optimism.. good one

[@ProjectPhysX]

At least the delay of German trains is _consistent_ My train once was late and I wouldn't have cought the following train, but the following train was also late so that it all worked out.

[@lonestarr1490]

You have to be careful, because there's one important exception to that rule: if you arrive late to the train station by any mode of transportation other than a train, the train you're aiming to connect to will _always_ be on time.

[@schnitzelsemmel]

Living in Germany, this was the most surprising to me: Thanks to the rigid passenger refund requirements, DB will almost always have a train wait for the incoming connecting train because it's cheaper to have it run a few minutes late than have a bunch of passengers having to wait an hour or more for the next one. This is being done in an extremely consistent way across national and regional rail services. In Austria, the train will rarely wait for connections, and rather instruct passengers to just take the next train. It's both because the DB IT system is more thorough in knowing the connections of the passengers of a given train, but also because train conductors often just ask the passengers and have a lot to say whether they wanna have a train wait for them. In Austria, in many local trains there isn't even a conductor and even if so, their input has less value to the operation HQ

[@BricksOnAnIsland]

Yes, train delays are so consistent that I bought a car! Because I am NEVER able to reach my destination in time with DB! And it is a nightmare if - no: WHEN! - you get stuck in Munich or Hamburg because not only your planed but even the last connection of the day to the rural city you wanna go to is gone!

[@Atom224]

@@lonestarr1490 Heisenberg's train.

[@haselhofler]

It's not consistent at all. If you're late for the train, the train will most likely be on time -.-

[@VeotrixxLP]

As a German here: The DB (Deutsche Bahn) isn't very precise with their timing. A delay is officially only counted after 5 minutes. So, in daily life, trains are almost always a few minutes late, but it doesn't show up in the official statistics.

[@icephoenix5466]

in other countries its counted after one or two the worst besides germany i know is three minutes this is already higher than most.

[@raileon]

@@icephoenix5466not really. Even the mighty SBB only count from 3 minutes onwards. In North America they sometimes use 15+ minutes or it even depends on the total length of the journey, so it go up to 60+ min. Most countries use 5 or 15 min.

[@Critizens]

IMHO: 5 min are absolutely fine for long distance travel. If there's a connection every 60 min and let's say it's an 4 h journey (e.g. Berlin-Munich)... It won't matter for 99.9 % of all passengers whether you arrive at 10:00 or 10:04. If you take a flight, you'll add some buffer for longer taxiing or bag handling. If you take you own car, 30+ min buffer for traffic jams? What is important is getting your connection and therefore the heavy 15+ min delays are a problem..

[@AlbCaphalor]

Cancelled trains are also not counting. So if a train is delayed too much they cancel it. Do it doesn’t show up 😅

[@lonestarr1490]

I don't know for sure if they're still doing that, but they also used to subtract the time by which other trains appeared too early (without a 5 minute threshold, of course). So, yeah. Even with all the embellishing in place the statistics are still a nightmare. Just try and imagine how bad it really is. And, of course, the obligatory "Danke, Merkel."

[@KiloKrunch]

Living in Munich, I very much hope that future governments continue to invest into the Bahn infrastructure. There is so much to gain from this

[@vomm]

Hope? With the CDU in power next year?

[@InTeCredo]

@@vomm You never know...

[@Blex_040]

@@InTeCredo Well, we kinda do. From 2009 until 2021 when Volker Wissing (FDP) took over all Federal Ministers for Transportation were from the CDU/CSU (all CSU to be precise). 12 years and they didn't do shit for the railway. So we can be very glad if a Federal Minister for Transportation from the CDU/CSU doesn't revoke all the funding (probably in favor of ICE cars...)

[@PrepYo]

CDU/CSU has a terrible track record for public transportation, they're the reason we're in this shit in the first place. Sidenote - They're finally fixing Leuchtenbergring, that part you always have to brace cause the entire train shakes so violently.. 😂

[@brianbosch3628]

I'm a green and not very fond of the CDU, however, no matter what the next coalition may look like, they will have no choice but to continue financing those investments. ​@@vomm

[@amac2612]

Moved to Cologne about 3 years ago with the ideas of German efficiency, German trains always on time and so on. Moving from a small town in Australia to a city that had busses, the S-bahn, the U-bahn and multiple tram lines its like I was looking at spaceships and i didnt care if a train was delayed 30 minutes, i was just happy I could catch one of these spaceships from one point in the same city to another point in the same city. After 3 years i am no longer this awe struck kid and when a train is delayed minutes I start swearing. A lot of pain in the future but will be worthwhile in the years ahead.

[@Relinquicide]

Also Aussie in Köln. and I'd say If anything it makes you appreciate Australia more, because we forget as Aussies how spread our and absolutely massive our cities are, our setups aren't to bad within the big cities themselves, but considering what Germany has for infrastructure between cities and countries, yeah nah it's pretty bad nowadays.

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

Germans love to complain on a high level. Sure, at some point it makes sense, but come on, it's not that bad after all

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

Great to see that you’ve become more and more German. Being angry, annoyed and complaining about everything is almost a national identity here.

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

@@Relinquicide You absolutely can not compare Australia with Germany. Australia only has very few very big cities around which the majority of the population in the country is located. So it’s way easier to build a Tram, underground and train network. Germany has in every part of the country a fairly big or decent sized city or metropolitan area which all need to be connected with each other. The train lines are spread like a spiders web throughout the country. It’s way more difficult and costly to maintain such a big and chaotically shaped (due to the location of the big cities) train network.

[@SodaDjinn]

To be fair Cologne is the trainwreck of Germany's rail system. It's the absolute worst of the worst for many reasons.

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

German joke: when you miss the train at 10 AM, you can still take the train from 9 AM ... Alright, most of the time it's not that bad. There are delays, lots of them, but most delays aren't in the scale of hours. Germans absolutely love to complain on a high level

[@ivanlagrossemoule]

At the same time some lines haven't been allowed to operate into Switzerland because they're not reliable enough to meet the standards. However it's bad by German standards, there's much worse out there.

[@Random-5555]

Yes germans love to complain but that is irrelevant here. Germany has factually one of the most often delayed trains in the whole of europe. Every german I know has horrible experiences with Deutsche Bahn - you go on the train and you're filled with anxiety. It's embarassing, especially as the 3rd biggest economy in the world.

[@daanwolters3751]

I mean, the main problem is that the trains are too popular/that the network is overburdened. So if germans keep complaining a bit more, and less trains have to run, the problem solves itself.😉

[@ph11p3540]

Could be a lot worse. Could be US or Canada with their lack of passenger railways

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

@@ph11p3540 true, true

[@Wildwood70]

Years ago we had some major civil/mining engineering challenges to solve in Canada so we went to Germany to see how they (Hochtief) handled similar challenges. We realized ours were small indeed in comparison which gave us the confidence to solve them. I have had the utmost respect for German engineers and builders ever since.

[@phillippalmejar9548]

I just railed around Germany last month. Rode from Vienna to Nuremberg to Stuttgart and Ulm. It went pretty well. The construction in Stuttgart was intense, huge site.

[@dieweiteweltdesfuballs]

Then you went lucky or you probably haven’t really used a lot of regional train services. I live in Hamburg and I rail around a lot and I can count down the amount of times I arrived on time in the last 10 years on one hand. However it is fair to say that I usually use regional train services and the metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft, which runs the regional services between Hamburg and Bremen as well as Hamburg and Hannover is probably the worst of the lot, they can’t even keep their trains in shape and cancellations are usually the outcome

[@pollutingpenguin2146]

60 billion doesn’t sound like a lot for a country the size of Germany…? That’s less than the cost of Paris’s metro expansion?

[@janowski2870]

We are busy spending more money on roads sorry :/

[@TheWillemDeBur]

what 60 billion is plenty, but I guess the law that forbids making new debt as a state limits germanys investions

[@dansands8140]

A person making $10/hour, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, would have to work for over three million years to make that much money. You should be careful dismissing huge expenditures.

[@EdmondDantèsDE]

@@dansands8140 $10/hour is below the minimum wage in Germany and way below the wage of skilled workers. You need thousands of them to pull it off. So yeah, $60bn to overhaul the entire country's railway infrastructure is not that much, especially considering all the bureaucratic bs you have to go through in Germany.

[@icephoenix5466]

IT ISNT. investment was cut and plans to make trains puncual again have been delayed to the mid 2070s

[@TheIronArmenianakaGIHaigs]

9:13 I was just in Stuttgart. The train station hands down is the worst experience I had in Germany. It also takes forever to walk from the underground area to the main station platforms. I hope this comment is out dated one day.

[@flippert0]

This train station in particular currently gets heavily remodeled, going from above-ground terminal station to subterranean through station.Yes, there are chances it will better one day 😄

[@blondeboi22]

Agree completely

[@NoInterleaving]

I never go there, this city is a nightmare, I wouldn't recomment it

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

well, that doesn't come as a surprise when major construction works take place on site, right? Now imagine how long the walk at Munich Central Station is from the end of one wing station to the end of the other wing station. It's a longer walk than in Stuttgart - without any construction works going on at that part of Munich Central Station. That's under plain normal conditions

[@adamabele785]

It had very short access from the trains to the underground by elevator and an underground tunnel. The whole train stations needed to move 300 meters to make room for the construction site. This results in 500 m you need to walk now. The train station is a temporary structure.

[@SDDT24]

Ironically the shape of Germany makes it hard as there are many choke points , while in France , Paris is essentially the spoke of the wheel where trains branch out in many directions

[@alecbasba]

That is also due to a difference in philosophy. Germany has multiple trains a day, with more stops and a lower average speed. Whereas France has a lower frequency, but with less stops and higher average speed. I personally prefer the flexibility that the German system offers.

[@lours6993]

@ :Huh?? No. France has the TGV network AND the TER network. The latter stops everywhere and uses historical lines. TGV travels on new dedicated HSR lines (and then can extend on the historical lines to reach provincial destinations directly).

[@austriankangaroo]

@@lours6993ter lines have pretty bad and random frequencies though, compared to german rb and re trains

[@bahnspotterEU]

@@lours6993 TER is often times absolutely terrible when compared to German regional rail. It's way less frequent, sometimes has no regular gaps between trains at all and has poor coverage.

[@markuswedlich2880]

I don't think thats because of germany's shape. The reason is of historical nature. France has many centuries of history of beeing governed from Paris. It has a long history of centralisation and anti-federalism. Paris, or Versaille, has been the unchallenged center of France since Louis XIV. Germany has a long history of emphasizing federalism. Thus hindering centralization efforts. Also the capital of west Germany was Bonn, and east Germany was Broke AF.

[@schnitzelsemmel]

One of the main issues that are plagueing DB is actually the "rail reform" from about thirty years ago. It was essentially a privatization. The DB is now not a state operator but a public company (although the state holds all its shares). This essentially means that DB is now legally required to aim for the highest profit, not for the best service. Stuttgart 21 is a good example for this: Similar to train station projects in the US, the main objective of moving the train station below ground is creating high value real estate above. Also, the way the infrastructure has been split off essentially means that while the maintenance of existing lines has to be funded by the DB, new construction is funded by government grants, which means that DB is financially incentivized to let rail lines break down and close them and have the government build shiny and expensive high speed rail lines that will turn them a profit. At least this point has been somewhat mitigated by the creation of the reconstruction fund by the outgoing government, but soon again the transport ministry will most probably revert from being held by a somewhat competent Auto lobbyist to a totally incompetent Auto lobbyist. Note that even the increase government money isn't enough to arrive at the "Deutschlandtakt", and integrated regular schedule for the entire country. Also, much of the regional train service is run by private companies that extract their own profit out of the government contracts they receive for operation, and as these local rail companies are often owned by foreign state rail companies like trenitalia, ÖBB etc., essentially German state companies pay for the rail systems in other countries.

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

What many people also forget is that the majority of investments for the German railway network over the last 30 years had to go into the modernization and reconstruction of the East German railway system after reunification. The (formerly) West German state-owned railway company DB, fully took over the East German state-owned railway company…

[@nacaclanga9947]

Actually not took over. The Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) and the Deutsche Reichsbahn (DR) were both dissolved and replaced by the Deutsche Bahn AG (also abbreviated DB)

[@Slayyyibatiiii66677]

@@nacaclanga9947 only on paper

[@schinken2356]

West German infrastructure was almost as bad as the one in East Germany at that time. At least, the DR didn't put as many secondary lines out of service as the DB (until 1994).

[@Donilan]

AND the punctuality and reliability in these eastern states is way better than in the rest of Germany. Munich - Berlin for example runs pretty well

[@Promi374]

The German Railway system (formerly state owned on both sides of the wall) was intentionally worked to the ground for privatization reasons. Most of the "investments" were put into making the DB AG his own hardest enemy, in the form of a road-spedition. Transportation for goods and people was always a balanced system, one financing the other. But now we see, you can't provide the network just on ticket prices. As a lot of ppl had argued back in the days.

[@Parakeet-pk6dl]

I’ve been working in railway management for over 15 years by now, and I always have to laugh when a new government comes in and has some very expensive plan to “save the railways” (mostly including an army of very expensive consultants that produce reports with very few new insights). Providing in a performant rail network is at its most efficient when former governments just wouldn’t be so keen on sabotaging operations; we’ve been doing this for over 100 years, people in the industry know how to do this. It’s not rocket science, just investing in what has to be done…

[@szurketaltos2693]

Consultants and contractors just don't have the same incentives as staffers. Sometimes they do good work (e.g. SNCF in Morocco, al Boraq), other times they blow up the costs (e.g. EDF in the UK, Hinkley Point C for another French example). That said, part of that is poor management of said contractors/consultants.

[@BerndBadewanne]

Contrary to the governments before the current one (although having fallen apart) at least decided to spend this money - before there also were a lot of words but no actions

[@pottedrosepetal6906]

maybe you can shed some light on this for me, why the hell does munich not just build a ring around the city instead of yet another railway? Like, large parts of a ring would already be completed anyway, it would just be connecting them and adding another line next to the existing one, which is way easier to do since its above ground...

[@EnocksonFerrall]

My main concern is how to survive all of these financial and political crisis, especially in light of the US political power scuffle. The government has really called things more difficult for its citizens, and we can't sit back and bear all the consequences of the bad governance.

[@SimmerFerdon221]

I think investors should always put their cash to work, especially In 2025, we'll start to see more market diversification. I'm hoping to invest about $350k of my savings in stocks against next year. Hope to make millions in 2025.

[@Jessicas.4207]

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[@AvivaAgnes]

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[@BoyesMorlas3058]

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[@AvivaAgnes]

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[@DB-ub3wx]

I was in Germany in August and in Munich for Adele. 1st The trains were always on time and very fast much more efficient than I’ve ever witnessed in the UK. 2nd They were way better at handing huge crowds and keeping things moving. 3rd Trains were more Morden and better maintained than any other train network I’ve experienced. Munich as a whole was amazing, very clean and nice people.

[@humongousballs]

If you went to Adele you probably took the U-Bahn, no? They are operated by the city and not connected to the railway network. They are usually pretty good in Germany along with trams.

[@mmd77777]

The trains that took people to Adele were the U-bahn, always operated by local cities themselves, here the MVG. The issue mentioned here is the Nation wide rail operator DB, with their nation wide network. The S-Bahn system in munich is part of the DB and the run on on their rail infrastructure, which is old and overloaded, so the munich S-Bahn is the issue here, and not the U-bahn. The U-bahn runs on a completely seperated infrastructure detached from the main rail, thus noone usually complains about it as it's super reliable and has rarely any issues.

[@lazrseagull54]

​@@mmd77777 The local rail for getting around within German cities is great! Only 4 cities in the UK have some kind of underground local rail network, compared to over 20 in Germany and only 7 have trams, compared to over 60 in Germany. Birmingham, similar in size to Munich only has one tram line and Leeds doesn't even have that. Germany has cities the size of Brighton or Coventry (300K) with underground/tram hybrid networks and they always use the same tickets as the bus network, even singles are valid on all local and regional bus and rail. That's way better than in most of the UK, where a bus single is only valid on the first bus you get on and doesn't allow you to finish an entire single journey using multiple bus and rail lines.

[@tickrob991]

The Munich U-Bahn is very reliable and punctual. The S-Bahn can’t be that reliable and punctual when you have a very long core route connecting almost all lines and a train every 2 minutes (the most used train route in Europe by traffic density). But when it works properly, it’s also a blessing and a very good means of transport to move from A to B here in the city as well.

[@marvin2678]

Most of Germany isnt Like this, munich IS an excpetipn

[@MaeveNDave]

I lived in Munich from 2004-2008, they have been talking about building that second tunnel for a looong time. Glad to see it finally happening, great work B1M

[@RaivisTaurins]

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[@geisteswissenschaft]

Knowing the cities mentioned well I can only admire your accurate documentation including the images, you have gained my trust!

[@GaryJohnWalker1]

At least Germany are going big - contrasts with the UK and its HS2 and northern powerhouse plans that have been stopped, restarted, scaled back, and still in much doubt.

[@blazikem]

I'm still distraught over those projects being massively sabotaged

[@york2600]

As an outsider HS2 seems to be all pain and no gain at this point.

[@blazikem]

@@york2600 In its current state yes. a fast connection between London and Birmingham is fine and will provide a nice capacity boost but HS2 in full would literally be as if we built 4 brand new mainlines all at once, which is as huge as you imagine.

[@Croz89]

It does seem that the UK might end up in the same place if it can't make the same investment now. Munich is building a second cross city tunnel when cities like Birmingham and Manchester don't even have one (Manchester in particular needs something to reduce congestion on the Castlefield corridor which is one of the busiest sections of railway in the country).

[@Alto53]

​@@Croz89Birmingham could do with an alternative line that avoids New Street.

[@tobiwan001]

At least there is now a broad consensus, even among the next government, that a lot more investment in the railways is needed. The low point was already a few years ago. But it will still take a decade before you see positive effects.

[@noidea5597]

Very true. There is hope!

[@theoriginalJP]

I watched a video where someone explained that the train wouldn't have to be any faster if the experience customers had was more enjoyable, in fact the trains could go slower if people enjoyed being on them, and it would cost far less to make the ride enjoyable than it costs to make it faster.

[@tobiwan001]

@@theoriginalJP that depends. The Swiss railways are the slowest in Europe but are universally liked. But they only transport as many people as the Berlin s-Bahn and only short distances. The DB competes not only with cars but also with aircraft. That‘s why it needed to be fast. But the speed is not the problem. The capacity is the problem. The demand has grown a lot, but capacity has remained stagnant. And the network has a lot of choke points. Especially in central western Germany. They need to be removed. But it takes time and less fraud projects but many small improvements.

[@theoriginalJP]

@@tobiwan001 60b still sounds like a far underestimate of what it's going to cost to physically expand the system

[@tobiwan001]

@ yes. That’s the B1M number. The German government is saying something more in the 200bn to 300bn range. They doubled annual investments but it would take too long. That’s why there will likely be a further increase or a separate budget. Also I would favour increasing ticket prices as lower ticket prices of the last few years have exacerbated the problem - predictably.

[@lowe8270]

Just a small information about that 64% of the trains in time statistics: It's already highly manipulated. A train only gets counted as late after 5 minutes of delay. And trains that get cancelled due to faulty machines or a lack of personell which happens very often doesn't get counted either. So in reality, its more likely that only 30-40% of all trains are in time

[@knudjahnke5166]

Nicely summarized, and very timely, with the Riedbahn corridor reopening in a week from now. However, I have to say this full shutdown and rerouting made a lot of sense. The bus replacement service for regional stations between Mannheim and Frankfurt apparently worked flawlessly, and the long-distance trains, while taking longer, actually ran on time. So my travels usually took 30min to 1h longer - for trips that would be 3-6h total - but I basically wasn't late anymore. Now I'm looking forward to the statistics of trains on this corridor.

[@Loren1389]

Wow, didn't know it's already coming to a close soon, and on time too. Am super impressed, that's basically unheard of from our german construction industry xD

[@noidea5597]

I think so, too. Years of slow-moving construction would've been way worse.

[@112Haribo]

That 6-month shutdown is nothing compared to what's going on between Emmerich and Oberhausen. 80 weeks of closures!!

[@knudjahnke5166]

@@112Haribo Yes, I've not taken that route towards Utrecht twice now...

[@knudjahnke5166]

@@Loren1389 Deutsche Bahn track works is ususally quite punctual. Not much dependency on external powers, I think. And "just" renewing tracks is something they are really efficient in.

[@IBM29]

While stationed in Germany in 1977, I took a train from Frankfurt to Kaiserslautern. The interior was spotless, the ride was smooth and quiet, and on time. Apparently, not so much these days...

[@FelixSFD]

the interior of most long distance trains is actually quite nice and if everything works as planned, it's comfortable journey. However, that interior doesn't help the passengers stranded at some train station, because the train didn't arrive our they missed their connection.

[@paul_ko]

Still applies today, except the punctuality

[@jwewer01]

My comment is more on time than the Deutsche Bahn

[@Parakeet-pk6dl]

Been working in railway management for over 15 years by now. It’s not rocket science, just investing in what has to be done… but then there’s politicians…

[@lexburen5932]

@@Parakeet-pk6dl EU and their oil lobbyists interests.

[@myob894]

The system is extremely well designed but became a victim of its own success. I thought this video was going to talk about Riedbahn, Karlsruhe Basel and Hanau Fulda capacity improvements but instead Riedbahn was only mentioned towards the end and mainly focused on Munich and Stuttgart 21, both of which have less impact on the entire DB network. Missed opportunity.

[@blondeboi22]

I was out there in the summer for the football, couldn’t believe how many trains were delayed or cancelled having grown up being told about German efficiency and how good European public transport is, at least it’s still a lot cheaper than British trains!

[@lonestarr1490]

It quite possibly still was that way back when you did your growing up. But that's what 16 consecutive years of conservative administration do to a country.

[@Quaestor1978]

Fantastic! Thank you so much, especially for the really cool perspectives from above and from beneath.

[@gandalfkenobi007]

As a German I have to applaud your precise research on the German railway system as well as accurate German pronounciation!

[@DC9848]

What they should also focus on removing are the endless rows of bureaucrats slowing the building process through endless paper processes. The money that is wasted on the bureaucracy part could be invested into better build quality (materials, labor, features).

[@jewi4111]

The 2nd trunk line is heavily disputed among local traffic and railway engineers. The main point of critics is that they could have upgraded the northern and southern ring for far less money. Benefits would have been, that the resilience of the local network would have been improved more than with a second trunk line while also improving tangential connections. Additionally, big corporations like BMW in the north would have gotten a direct connection to regional PT. In its current form this upgrade feels like last millennium policy

[@the_retag]

The upgrades can be done easier gradually later

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

BMW in the north is served by 2 subway lines, has more than a dozen public bus stops, and then there's even BMW internal bus services between the different parts of the plants as well

[@noidea5597]

They don't rule each other out. Of course, the ring should be reactivated for passengers!

[@ArefRichardForster-mr2qj]

Exakt, eine Ringbahn wäre günstiger und würde den Immobilienmarkt nicht noch mehr anheizen. München ist bereits teuerste Stadt Deutschlands. Eine Ringbahn verteilt alles besser

[@georgobergfell]

​@@ArefRichardForster-mr2qjDie Ringbahn wird zusätzlich zur 2. Stammstrecke benötigt, nicht stattdessen. Die Projekte schließen sich nicht aus!

[@davidpeters.photography]

3:02 thank you for some love

[@aurelspecker6740]

Honestly, a project the size and complexity like Stuttgart 21 costing 11bn isn't something crazy high. Expecting that it only costs 4bn was just naive. Just look at the "Durchmesserlinie" in Zurich. It is ONE tunnel. ONE bridge. And only four new platforms at Zurich HB. And it already cost 1.5bn. Stuttgart is at least 10x larger and at much more complex. Good infrastructure is just expensive. But people don't realize that bad/easy infrastructure like Autobahn is as expensive. It is just build in smaller increments, for much less capacity.

[@Mlars_-bg8ke]

The thing that has me worried most with the planned overhaul of the mainline corridors is that, once finished, the political will to keep investing in the railway network will be gone. This great refurbishment of the railways has to be seen as a first step, not as the solution to germanys rail transport issues. The trains and tracks are already completely packed and some corridors are running beyond capacity 24/7 because the demand is so incredibly high to get people and freight on the tracks. Refurbishing the existing network will not greatly increase capacity, but merely stabilise it for the future. I really hope that once the major refurbishment scheme is done the german gouvernment will keep investing into the rail infrastructure i.e. build, upgrade and even revive derelict infrastructure to keep up with the demand.

[@Sp4mMe]

"Bahnsinn Riedbahn" sums up many of the issues quite nicely. What's doubly interesting is that it's made by Deutsche Bahn. Yes, they are actually critically looking at their shortcomings, while also demonstrating the immense challenges they face.

[@Leeroy49]

Yes it has become more and more embarassing during the last 30 years. They removed lines, tracks and let the rest of the money flow in their own pockets. That's what you get if you combine a kind of state owned Deutsche Bahn with the "free" market ... They see and get money from both sides without improving the transport system. All this while increasing the ticket prices on a yearly basis of course ;).

[@Parakeet-pk6dl]

Been working in railway management for over 15 years now, and I can honestly say that if the amount of cash that’s been spent on consultants just would’ve been used to manage daily operations, we wouldn’t be in such a dire situation now. It’s really frustrating for people in the industry to see how politicians mismanage the railways. You’re just not allowed to work efficiently.

[@nicholaosperackis7390]

A country that you wouldn’t expect to have a decent railway system is Italy… the process of replacing old trains is almost finished… delays are becoming the exception and high speed service is one of the best made in the world. Also the application of Trenitalia is really well made and the various services offered by Trenitalia are very nice.

[@BARUtubbig]

Finally, I've traveled so often with the Deutsche Bahn and about 80% of the time I had some delay or even cancellations making the trip hours longer. Every time I'm scared again getting into a DB train not knowing if I'm gonna make it home this time 😅😅

[@marioluigi9599]

Do you have an appointment at home to be on time?

[@tompearce6312]

I remember some years back travelling on the German trains and thinking they were amazing, and then more recently being so disappointed by how badly they'd gone downhill. This is great news!

[@CarterHancock]

I visited both Stuttgart and Munich this past summer and wow, the amount of construction was insane, but what was crazier was how there were almost 0 delays. My experience may be atypical, so I can only hope this megaproject is completed for Germany soon. Danke and greetings from America!

[@connectingwings7212]

well as a transit planners point of view i have to mention that the munich 2nd s-bahn rail core is mostly politically driven and most of us planners agree if we could stop any transit project in germany, its that one, since according to studies, it will make public transport worse and also never make up for the carbon emissions during its construction. its similar about Stuttgart 21, since it actually reduces stuttgart hbfs capacity (which is actually the most punctual train station in Germany) and will not give room for service expansions, its mostly a real estate project for the formerly occupied area of the train station. however the project could be useful if part of the overground station is kept

[@InfraWatch_FRM]

Don‘t underestimate the Germans. I am optimistic that we’ll have a high performing German rail network once again within the next 5-10 years. Deutsche Bahn already does a lot of things very well and is quickly sorting out the sources of their biggest problems. Our rail network is visibly moving in the right direction and the pace is increasing. Of course not everything is rainbows and sunshine but I refuse to be pessimistic about this.

[@BricksOnAnIsland]

I hope you are right, but I doubt it. As long as we do not have a high speed network separated from other trains in and around the big German cities we'll have problems. And that's not an easy task because normaly there's no space for extra tracks...

[@Croz89]

Thing is, DB *used* to be good. You speak to millennial and older Germans and they'll say the service in the 00's was much better, not perfect but playing more into the German stereotype. A decade of underinvestment has caused service to decline.

[@chaosvorraus7602]

The Problem is the Lack of funding... if you want a reliable DB you have to spend much more Money than some Partys want to

[@dirtyduck6987]

Not 5-10 years thats way to little time more like 20-30 years

[@hydrocharis1]

Many Germans right now are in a state of toxic pessimism and defeatism which is a real danger to making progress. Many people act as if the pitiful state of DB is due to a vague boogeyman like 'bureaucracy' or Germans not being as orhanized anymore as they used to be, and don't want imptlrovement. The truth is that much of this is the result of ideological choices to neglect public transport and be totally beholden to the car lobby by the Union. Change can happen and we need to believe things can get better.

[@christophersenn1304]

Thanks!

[@_rupiks]

german here. Main reason for the mentioned underfunding and neglect is the privatization of our railway company DB into a profit oriented stock company, although the state holds a large Portion (if Not the majority) of its shares. Instead of investments, huge cost cuttings happened. The Plan was Not only to save money, but rather the DB making profits… Which can Not Work. The consequences are felt today and will be in the future

[@AnarchoMomo]

Actually, the state owns all the shares. Therefore, technically it's not correct to say that the DB was privatized as it's still state-owned.

[@MrEddy-bm3eo]

DB has never been privatized. It is 100% state owned. That's why it is so bad. It can't go bancrupt, all jobs are completely safe, regardless of the quality that is provided.

[@jonassattler4489]

DB does not operate "for profit", they are literally getting direct funding by their sole owner, the German government. The failed privatization is not the issue DB is facing. It being completely shielded from any sort of repercussions for their terrible services, is the issue. If any for profit company operated as badly as DB it would rapidly cease to exist.

[@_rupiks]

@@jonassattler4489 Deutsche Post operatet genauso badly, aus den selben gründen (habs als mitarbeiter erlebt) und irgendiwe gibts die immernoch. mal schauen wie lange lol

[@the_retag]

Stuttgart 21 is not too bad overall, the big problem is that they refuse to keep the old station open in addition

[@kilosierraalpha]

Railways? Whole of Germany is falling apart. I visited Frankfurt and Cologne last year and couldn't believe how dilapidated everything's become.

[@SlimShady-l9t]

I live near Stuttgart and I see forward to enjoy the new train station, the new railways and easier access to the main station itself. Digitalisation and new train stations all across will make it more efficient and less delays. All will be good some day, I want to believe!

[@BJHolloway1]

Great video very informative but you did not mention the proposed major change at Franfurt hauptbahnhof. Like Stuttgart DB are currently performing feasabilty studies on how best to allow north - south ICE trains to pass striaght through the staion (underground of course) in a similiar manner to that nearing completion in Stuttgart. A certain amount of funds have already been allocated and it seems a preferred route is already being discussed after 4 or 5 variations were considered.

[@gelber_kaktus]

Still, Stuttgart is already too small, when finished, and they are making similar mistakes in Frankfurt.

[@BJHolloway1]

@@gelber_kaktus Why dont we wait and see? Or can you share the data which supports your statement?

[@wernerderchamp]

@@gelber_kaktus they aren't because while the station only has four tracks, the upper terminus station stays intact. As part of a separate project, it will even gain another platform (more is not possible without removing major roads or tearing down buildings). The underground station can handle 10-15 high speed trains per hour and direction, even with a four-minute stop time, allowing more traffic on the terminus station. The target schedule sees 8,5 HS trains per hour on the underground station, 2 trains/hour on top because they terminate and a 2-horuly service still changing directions.

[@JustAnthon]

Another important point to mention is that, even if all the high-speed corridors and new lines operate perfectly, the rest of the system is still in dire need of upgrades. Too many busy lines have not been electrified and/or are still single-tracked.

[@Enhancedlies]

happy to hear its not just the UK!

[@maximusg88]

The UK and Germany both suffer similar issues... Conservative governments have enjoyed growth and low interest rates without spending enough in infrastructure and public services.

[@karo2090]

@@maximusg88 The UK and Germany are facing similar problems.... Your conservative governments they are not conservatives, they are far left 🤮Greetings from Poland

[@maximusg88]

@@karo2090 oh god... enjoy your Russian propaganda of Law and Justice

[@TheHoveHeretic]

​@@maximusg88Oh just open your window and look outside.

[@constantins.2981]

As a german, i really hope future goverents and the future executives of the DB wont stop at when these renovations are finished and instead aim at building new high speed and high capacity corridors in order to be able to compensate future incidents and renovations on existing corridors without having a big impact on passenger and freight travel. As well as reopening small train lines to connect rural areas with some sort of train service. This could play a big role in making train travel more attractive in germany and cutting down on CO2 emissions.

[@ThePirateBen]

You hinted at the main problem with the Deutsche Bahn infrastructure, that is, there are no dedicated high speed lines. Freight, commuter and ICE all travel on the same network, meaning the inevitable problems with any part of it cascade to the other constituent parts. It is the overtaking lanes that you mention at 11:30 that the system desperately needs

[@michawisniewski4654]

another option is to separate ICE from other trains by using hedicated lines (sometimes just part of the same corridor).

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

There definetly ARE dedicated HSR corridors, like from Nuremberg to Ingolstadt, Leipzig to Erfurt and beyond, Frankfurt to Cologne, Stuttgart to Ulm etc. These HSR corridors are, with minor exceptions, used by high-speed passenger trains only, with freight trains running on slower rail lines in the area.

[@lonestarr1490]

​@@michawisniewski4654 The system should have been set up that way right from the start. Like Japan did with their Shinkansen, which was the very first HSR in the world and remains to be the very best to this day. But they thought they could achieve the same thing cheaper by just using the tracks that were already there. A historic blunder that will forever haunt the German highspeed rail.

[@lukasmaier8247]

@@lonestarr1490 A system like in Japan would not work for Germany. In Japan, most of the population is located along a dense corridor along the coasts, meaning only a few high-speed lines are needed to server a large amount of the population. In Germany, the population is more spread out into many medium-sized cities. A completely dedicated high-speed network would never be able to reach an extent where enough of these mid-sized towns would be able to be served. Japan has 12 cities with >1mil. population, Germany has only 4. And the separate network in Japan wasn't born out of choice but out of necessity, as the conventional network uses narrow-gauge railways, on which speeds of over 120 km/h are impossible. In comparison, in Germany even regional services run at 160 km/h a lot of the time and some conventional routes allow for speeds of up to 200 km/h. Germany needs more dedicated high-speed lines, yes. These lines need to be built along the main corridors of high-speed travel to allow high-speed trains to run separately from other services to circumvent these highly congested lines. But a completely separate network makes no sense at all and would result in longer travel times and worse connections for many people, as a completely dedicated high-speed network would never be able to serve as many people as the current ICE network does. Just google for a map of Germany's ICE network and a map of Japan's Shinkansen network. Their extent isn't comparable in the slightest.

[@christianh2581]

I always think its funny how in the US the rail enthusiasts always complain about the freight companys owning the tracks and such the passenger trains must play by the rules of the freight companys, while in Germany people complain about the opposit (e.g. that we are unsuccessful in shifting more freight from the Autobahn to the railways because passenger rail always has priority)

[@anthonypearson6759]

Can we stop with the (this piece of infrastructure will) SAVE (a city)? So far we’ve had an airport saving Sydney, a subway saving nyc, an airport saving nyc, a railway saving Germany, a tunnel saving Chicago, a building saving London, a metro saving Paris….you’re a better channel than clickbait.

[@lascannon]

Visited Germany for the first time in September. Was excited to try out the DB and had 4 trips planned between cities. 2 cancelled trains (which resulted in me losing my reserved seats so I had to stand for 4hrs in full trains) and all 4 trips arrived over 45 mins late. Learned very quickly that next time I visit, I’ll just fly between cities.

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

4 trips with 45+ minutes of delay? That's about the same number of delays I had in riding trains across Germany in more than a decade "I’ll just fly between cities." and then? You'll arrive at an airport far outside the city and might still take a 1 hour ride on the train to get into the city. Taking the train all the way is definetly faster than that

[@lonestarr1490]

Well, you did get yourself the proper German experience. You really felt what it's like to live here. No amount of sightseeing or city trips could have provided you those insights. So there's that.

[@lukasfoerster9316]

Taking the Stammstrecke to and from work every day I want to highlight how well it is coping with the much larger than anticipated usage, and how central it is to getting around in Munich. Nevertheless the new line will definately supercharge traffic in and around the city - I am really looking forward to it. It is also great to see the progress they are making on the other projects. Riedbahn went quite well but there is quite some confidence of the public to win back with large construction projects in Germany. With these (hopefully) trust in the rail system in general will follow.

[@bimblinghill]

Well done Germany for recognising the problem and sinking a big investment into it. We all like to laugh at DB, but to be honest it's not *that* bad (speaking as a Brit I cringe at our lamentable network). In my experience it's slow speed compared to France and there's lots of delays, but it's a functioning high-volume system overall. There's actually a pretty good foundation to build on.

[@BricksOnAnIsland]

As a Brit, please try to memorise how BR was in the early 1980s. Well, as a German who experienced BR in the 1980s, I can say: That is DB in the 2020s! 😭😱 (I have no idea how BR is today, to be honest)

[@bimblinghill]

@@BricksOnAnIsland I remember the tail end of BR in the '90s. It was terrible, and then it got worse with privatisation, until eventually the rails started falling apart, there were several crashes and the whole lot had to be speed-limited. After that there started to be more investment. My experience of DB is mainly crossing between France and Austria, so a bit limited. DB trains and customer service are worse than SNCF or ÖBB, plus you can feel the foreign trains slow right down when you cross the border, but they do still go. I've never actually been completely stuffed by a cancelled or broken down train crossing Germany (while I was several times in the UK in the old days), so in my experience DB is bad, but could be a lot worse, and you didn't let it get as bad as we did before deciding to do something about it. Even the stations that everyone loves to hate, like Stuttgart, are busy and badly laid out, rather than completely broken and half abandoned as they were at our worst point.

[@BricksOnAnIsland]

@@bimblinghill The good thing about DB: almost no crashes at all. But within the last two years me, my wife and some of our holiday guests experienced more delays and cancelled trains than ever before. Traveling from southern Germany via Frankfurt and Collogne to the north sea was sometimes like a lottery, especially in the summer of 2023. It is frustrating when your holiday guests call you from their departure station near Stuttgart in the morning tellling you that it is already clear before they even enter the first train that they will miss the last ferry to our Island (North Sea). And they had planed with a time buffer of more than 3 hours! Two months ago (september 2024) my wife's train from Frankfurt was cancelled. She decided to at take a train to Collogne and stay there over night to ensure she reaches at least next days ferry home. In March her train to Hamburg terminated in Bremen.At least DB payed for her Taxi (!) to Hamburg Airport so she could catch her flight. And so on...

[@bimblinghill]

@@BricksOnAnIsland Sounds like I was lucky!

[@SplittedVoid]

I think it's always important to think of the contractor situation. Now that the DB has built a lot of things, it gave infrastructure building companies an opportunity to specialise in rail building. That helps with getting things done on time and with a higher quality

[@Heidelaffe]

The lack of investments took years to show the bad effects. It will take at least the same time to undo this.

[@gelber_kaktus]

They even stripped down the system, now lacking redundancy and capacity. e.g. they shut down multiple sites in and around Berlin in the past 30 years, and now are lacking capacity to park trains, so they need so circle around the city or park hours outside of Berlin.

[@avrilmaépilkington]

This will become one of the worlds best tourist destinations if I can help in any way possible I will ❤️❤️

[@timothyhenry3841]

German guy here: The situation is much much worse than depicted here!

[@paul_ko]

Also German guy here: It isn't. It greatly depends on where you live. Most of the issues are due to the awfully overloaded infrastructure in the West

[@El-Gato-42]

As a daily DB commuter, I can personally say it's alright as long as you don't take long distance trains. The regional trains (RB) are mostly on-time and I can;t really complain about the transport modes within the cities (S-Bahn, U-Bahn, etc)

[@bryanduncan6178]

As someone who had to pretend the Crossrail/Elizabeth Line was on time and on budget - even though we knew it wasn't (!), this level of overspend and delay fills me with joy!

[@cyrilio]

Will we see a video about Notre Dame soon?

[@TheB1M]

We made one already!

[@marioluigi9599]

​@@TheB1MIt's horrible isn't? So basic and minimalistic in a "modernist" style. The walls are all bare and the ceilings too. Ain't no Michelangelo to be found on those ones. And yet they spent a billion on what? An altar that looks like some tub out of a modernist bathroom

[@kindnuguz]

While many think of "Set backs" or "delays" as a bad thing I personally smile and think "that's a functioning democracy" 😃 Well done Germany and can't wait until these projects benefit your country, as always love from the US

[@philipadastra]

Germany is killing itself with regulations

[@shrgn]

Germany is killing itself with EU regulations

[@maximusg88]

and the liberals did nothing about it

[@MM-lg4ni]

@shrgn Germany is killed by that small group that considers them an eternal enemy. Just like that group wants to kill EVERY SINGLE nation built and inhabited by mainly Europeans/People of European descent.

[@TheBensMeister]

I was in Stuttgart in 1998. I remember seeing their design for Stuttgart 21. Crazy that 25 years later it's still somewhat of a dream.

[@jonassattler4489]

The DB is also an extremely weird corporation. It is somewhat of a regular for-profit LLC, but its sole owner is the German government. It completely fails at its operations, so it has to be heavily funded by the state to operate in any way. This leaves with a heavily over funded bureaucratic behemoth, which is totally incapable of performing even their basic duties. There are other train operators in Germany, many of them operating slower trains over shorter distances. They too suffer from the DB being chronically incompetent at doing maintenance for the railways. Continuing to let them operate like this is just negligent, the tax money they eat up, together with the prices they demand and the services they offer is totally unjustifiable. No company this badly run deserves to exist.

[@TheNewTimeNetwork]

The DB shouldn't be a company. Public services shouldn't be operated on a for-profit mentality. The entire idea that market liberalisation is a foolproof way to vitalise the system is wrong. Prioritising profits over public service is the exact reason that DB decided to neglect its rail network, abandon many branch lines, close unprofitable services, let stations rot and decay - and heavily invest into road logistics (Schenker) and other markets instead. The past 30 years of DB mismanagement are entirely on the government(s) of those years, which could've changed laws, swapped managers, overhauled funding schemes etc. The DB management did exactly what they were hired to do: squeeze the whole thing until it breaks.

[@lyricalfroge5219]

I'll never get over that one scene in Jason Bourne, where the protagonist is in Berlin and has to escape a trainstation. He does this by looking at the timetable and then blindly jumping off a bridge to land on the train that he trusted would be just on time to catch him. That would have been the end of the movie if it took place in 2024, lmao.

[@stormbowman7148]

Whenever I travel by train in Germany, mostly long journeys, I always put in at least 30 minutes for changing trains. It is too risky to go below 30 minutes, which is also kind of risky in itself, but mostly it works.

[@Anonymous-zu7dh]

SJ Euronight is a sleeper train service running from Stockholm to Berlin. It's honestly a miracle if it arrives on time in Stockholm. And not only that, SJ suggests to have a 2 hour minimum spare time for connections. On regular SJ trains that's more like 15 mins. So it's not a small delay either, that regularly occur.

[@diogor420]

I interrailed last July and stayed in Munich for a couple of days and loved it! Arrived from Prague in Ostbahnof and departed to Paris in Hauptbahnof, neither of them had any delays :)

[@georgobergfell]

Sometimes miracles happen 😉

[@NathanWeylandt]

More videos about Germany pls maybe even Berlin and its future Modenisied ring and lineupdating great video I’m From Germany myself and love how accurate this video has been keep it up

[@d.b.cooper1]

Meanwhile we're still bickering over HS2. Pathetic

[@paradonym]

1. Use as few transfers as possible. 2. Replace a short trip from a bigger train station to a small local station with a rental car. 3. If transfers aren't avoidable, make sure to use the same train type for all of your routes. This way you're almost always on time. And if not, you're way too late. Like in hours

[@mobius1378]

Talking about German Trains.... I was in Berlin from 3-7 Dec. Right at the beginning from the DB train from Copenhagen to Hamburg till the train I left Germany, Berlin to Amsterdam, including all S-Bahn trains while I was in Berlin, all of them were delayed, from 5 mins to hours, a 45mins for a S-Bahn delay was really crazy. The only train service which could be more punctual is the U-Bahn, maybe it's just my luck.😂

[@Jeza921]

While Germany’s railways are struggling, the growth of alternative modes of transport such as cars and low-cost airlines is growing stronger. This reduces the dependence on trains, especially in a context of demand for fast and convenient transport. The €60 billion plan needs to take into account the development of alternative means of transport, while also enhancing the appeal of rail through fast, convenient and competitively priced services.

[@catchcato]

Dieser Kommentarbereich ist nun Eigentum der BRD

[@robertheinrich2994]

eigentum der DB, und wird 10 jahre verspätung haben und weit über budget sein. außerdem wird die umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung beeinsprucht.

[@marcknowsbetter]

The U in U-Bahn stands for “unabhǎngig” which translates to independent and means that its independent from other traffic such as cars compared to a tram for example.

[@JustAnthon]

It actually stands for "Untergrundbahn", meaning "underground railway". Independance from the rest of the city's network is still a key factor, though that partially correlates to it being underground

[@marcknowsbetter]

@@JustAnthon both are correct however Hamburg U-Bahn goes overground most of the time. Same goes for Stuttgart where it’s partially underground but also uses actual streets which is why it’s called Stadtbahn there and not U-Bahn as it’s not independent.

[@rollinwithunclepete824]

As American, it sounds like DB has been learning things from Amtrak.

[@Dead_Tomatoe]

We can hate in DB all we want But they did finished the Riedbahn EARLY, and this is huge Thing for Germany Its a huge milestone showing what CAN be done If done correctly

[@baronbrummbar8691]

well if odeg would have been doing it all ther projects would be on time

[@baronbrummbar8691]

i seriously love ODEG almost no delays 0 cancellations highly functioning trains polite staff

[@svenlima]

Only 60 billions??? This amount is ridiculous (but better than nothing).

[@noidea5597]

60 billion is a huge number. In the next few years, they'll invest double in rail than in the highways. I think that's plenty.

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

That’s the whole GDP of some countries…

[@svenlima]

@@noidea5597 I have no idea how much the whole upgrading would cost - I'm just guessing but considered that Germany has 40'000 km auf railways 60 billions doesn't sound like much. That makes 1,5 million per kilometer. Just building the rail tunnel NEAT through the Swiss mountains cost 6 billions. And then there's also the trains themselves plus the infrastructure like trains stations etc. Online I've found these numbers: Cost per 100 kilometer railway = 428 million Ausbau der Bahntrasse Lübeck/Hagenow Land-Rostock-Stralsund Länge: 250 Kilometer, Kosten: 1,07 Mrd. Euro, Neubau Autobahn A 20 Lübeck-Stettin Länge: 323 Kilometer, Kosten: 1,9 Mrd. Euro,

[@MM-lg4ni]

@@svenlima doesn't matter even if it was 1 trillion. Germany could EASILY afford that if THEIR OWN money, from tax, would be used for their OWN PEOPLE/COUNTRY - as IT SHOULD BE PRIORITY, by far and beyond from whatever comes in the second place. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it costs Germany 60 billion PER MONTH just to feed/cloth/house the "guests" that Germans were FORCED to "welcome". And lets not forget that small group that sees Germany as their eternal enemy, that already are in control of Germany since after ww2, and rob Germany blind since DECADES, for MULTIPLE TRILLIONS every year. On their own, without that group, and with what they produce/are capable of, intelligence/creativity/inventiveness etc, Germans/Germany would be a perfectly functioning, high-tech, science-fiction eden utopia transformed in reality. Like ALL European countries (and countries built by people of European descent, USA, Canada, Australia) would be without that parasitic group that plunders them.

[@unitedstatesoffugu]

It's well worth comparing Crossrail/Elizabeth Line in London with Stuttgart 21: Both projects were conceptualised in the 90s and required a lot of tunnel boring, construction began for both around 2010. In London, they estimated 16£ bln. In the end, they paid a little over 19bln, 4 years delayed. S21, however, was estimated to cost 2.5€ bln, a riddiculously little number for a project with such a scale. A very naive, actually very stupid perspective, which unfortunately is very common within Germany. Delay will be 7 years, final costs somewhere around 12€ bln.

[@Myrillin]

I used to live in Schoneweide (in Berlin), and the old train station building there (I believe intended to be refurbished) had been closed for years, and it even took them years to refurbish two short platforms. Another station, I cannot remember the name of it right now (near Ostkreuz) has been filled with scaffolding for years, and shows no signs of being removed soon? I don't know why, but construction work progresses at a painfully glacial pace, and I have no idea why. I'm living in Warsaw, Poland again now, and everything gets done quickly. There are no projects that stand for multiple years without seemingly progressing at all, despite seeing construction workers being present there.

[@bahnspotterEU]

True. I live in western Germany and I've experienced basic construction sites sitting open for months on end with nobody in sight doing anything. Simple roadworks take years and most of that time you don't see anyone working! What's wrong with our construction industry?

[@riemenscheider]

The station near Ostkreuz you refer to is Ostbahnhof - and the scaffolding is nearly completely removed now. The station actually looks pretty decent now. I think the construction industry in Germany is so slow because of extremely complex regulations and high labour costs. Every stakeholder from environmentalists, historians, government agencies, ... needs to be included and have a say in public building projects while coping with 1000s of regulations for fire protection, building material, sustainability, anti corruption, ... It's just a mess.

[@XA--pb9ni]

The station you are looking for near ostkreuz is called Ostbahnhof :) And it it still not fully done lol

[@InTeCredo]

It is very true with the S-Bahn expansion between Bamberg and Nuremberg. There is one part between Eltersdorf station and Regnitz river that hasn't been expanded from two to four tracks for almost ten years. Deutsche Bahn finally completed the four-track route from Fürth central station to Regnitz river bridge only few years ago and the Eltersdorf station (from two to four tracks) only earlier this year.

[@InTeCredo]

@@riemenscheider And those irritating Wutbürger (angry citizens) who keep finding ways to block the constructions. In Nuremberg, the U3 western expansion was put on hold for a while due to one citizen filing the lawsuit because of noise abatement programme was "insufficient" enough.

[@kibun1]

The Main problem of the German railway System is the ever increasing complexity. The Bahn Mixed everything together: high Speed trains, regional trains , Cargo trains, Tourist trains, commuter trains. While other Nations separated things, Like Japan or France, Germany created chaos. That resulted in ever growing Administration and non-Service jobs . Few people serving the Customer, thousands Serve the Administration. The Bahn Boss once was asked to vend a ticket but utterly failed due to overly complex tariffs. Of course everybody cries for more Money, but its Not an Money issue.

[@13Luk6iul]

CDU/CSU and SPD have underfunded the railnetwork for years.

[@jonassattler4489]

The founding for DB is *far* more than enough to operate and maintain a good train network. Money is not the problem, incompetence is.

[@13Luk6iul]

@ the problem is a disfunctional rail network that needs repairwork at every second corner

[@jonassattler4489]

@@13Luk6iul DB has more than enough resources to accomplish that. They are just chronically incompetent, so the money vanishes into anything except improved rail service.

[@13Luk6iul]

@@jonassattler4489 may be. Insteqd of paying bonuses to management, they should use that money to the benefit of the network. but whatever the reason. DB needs to invest in its outdated infrastructure. Also germany has one of the worst high speed networks in western europe. Luckily our last governemnt has made investments possible, as opposed to the previous ones.

[@Leo-fl6sn]

Die Generalsanierungen sind wichtig und richtig, aber es braucht auch Neubaustrecke um die Kapazitäten, die Flexibilität, die Zuverlässigkeit und die Geschwindigkeit zu erhöhen!

[@harenterberge2632]

In Germany only cars are important. Investments in public transport, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure are done reluctantly and half heartedly.

[@knorke3549]

Important to note: those 60BN € cover only half of the investments that are needed today (a figure that is likely to increase during the time frame during which the Money is planned to be distributed). Additionally, Stuttgart 21 has severe architectural concerns that make the entire project infeasible in the long term and likely to fail even if construction is finished (among other things, the entire station is tilted to an unsafe degree meaning anything with wheels will find itself suddenly relocated while the tunnels which will be drilled for the rails are in a region are in a region where those same tunnels will be prone to flooding. Since the stone through which the tunnels will be drilled is highly water absorbent and swells extensively while doing so, any flooding will most likely lead to extensive damage to those tunnels.) I think (but I'm not sure about this so please fact-check) that at some point it was proven or at least made very likely that Stuttgart 21 as a project was created to shuffle money into the hands of certain construction companies and that both from an infrastructural as well as from an architectural perspective, there was no reason for this project to actually happen.

[@arno_nuehm]

0:40 this is were austrian football fans at EM24 famously chanting "die deutsche bahn is so im oasch" ("the deutsche bahn is so screwed up") didn't make it into the final cut. sad!

[@tobiwan001]

The Austrians at least need some way to cheer themselves up. After all they live in a barely democratic, ski-tourism-dependent, absurdly corrupt soap opera of a country...

[@TheYCrafter]

very cautious translation ;)

[@arno_nuehm]

@@TheYCrafter do you have a less cautious, more fitting one?

[@zeemon9623]

Something of note: Cities/regions have their own public transportation services that are not run by DB. I went to school by bus for 9 years and delays were almost unheard of while the people that took the DB-run S-Bahn were late all the time. Trams, U-Bahn lines, and Bus lines are usually not operated by DB but by a local service. If you want something more reliable, that's generally your best bet.

[@Bob-yl9pm]

Germans confuse stubbornness with pride 😉 I know, cause I married one!

[@PowerControl]

From a friend working at DB, money is only the second problem. The important engineers have been replaced by middle management. To replace them needs at least 5 years of special training for certain certification or safety engineers

[@_o0TKS0o_]

2:17 The long distance trains are relatively fine, the real issue are the regional ones.

[@MrMakabar]

The regional ones have fewer delyas. They have shorter total journey times and many run only a short time on mainline tracks.

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

regional rail services often come with less delays actually

[@qyqyqyqyqy]

in which germany do you live, its the other way around...

[@tftycoon]

How to solve: 1) Cancel all high speed line projects and other shiny projects, save the funds 2) Expand station capacities (By both platforms and track count a couple km in&out) 3) Electrify all main lines 4) Double track them 5) Quadruple the lines connecting the large centers. High(er) speed for two tracks, low(er) speed on the other to boost capacity further If you can go 200km/h pretty much all the way, we would be faster today than with the crazy expensivy scattered 300km/h corridors.

[@joshpayne4015]

Germany should NOT have a reputation for being "efficient". I lived there for a couple of years and experienced nothing of the sort. PERHAPS maybe in the automobile industry, which is impressive, could the Germans be considered "efficient" but not so in almost any other area, including train travel. They continue to be rooted in paper-based processes which are horrifying to have to navigate. Most things are still done by in-person appointments and through the mail, and the state of broadband internet service in Germany is behind most other western countries.

[@michaelknapp9091]

I think the 'german' efficiency killed the capability for resilience. Everything was 'optimized' to be efficient in normal circumstances but without having any capacity left for handling any deviation from it.

[@hugodesrosiers-plaisance3156]

I didn't skip your sponsorship sequence because it's very appropriate and well integrated with the rest of your video, and frankly very interesting. I do think however that you should make it clear when a sponsorship sequence begins. You could for example show a QR code when the sponsorship sequence begins.

[@AsphaltAntelope]

The Britain formerly known as Great Britain could learn a lot from this. Britain's mostly abandoned HS2 (high speed rail) project is a joke. It was such a spiteful final act by the previous Conservative government to cancel the project in the final months of their dying regime. Hopefully it can be fully brought back.

[@smacbot]

One problem with Germany rail is you often have to change trains to get to your destination, but unless you have at least 30 minutes (more if the journey to that stop is more than 2 hours long) changeover time, you will almost always miss it. Its so frustrating

[@martythemartian99]

3:02 There is an old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Unfortunately though, most governments around the world expand this to "If it ain't broke, don't maintain it." This is why much of the world infrastructure rots until billions need to be spent in upgrades. It is a major problem of the modern electoral cycle.

[@wookix]

Just an additional note: The Riedbahn will reopen this weekend (Sunday, the 15th of December 2024)

[@nailil5722]

An Englishman saying German has a "failing railway system" are some big words. The irony.

[@jogennotsuki]

You might want to look up the definition of "irony".

[@anettep6678]

Munich local here desperately hoping for a North and/or South ring as well because we all know the 2nd tunnel alone won't be enough to fix congestion...