The $60BN Plan to Save Germany's Failing Railways

[@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."

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@geisteswissenschaft]

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

[@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.

[@gandalfkenobi007]

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

[@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)

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@alioscopy-glasses-free-3D]

Superb content! Your channel is always impressive, interesting…. and growing fast. Keep up the good work. 👍🏼

[@davidpeters.photography]

3:02 thank you for some love

[@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?

[@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.

[@_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

[@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

[@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

[@the_retag]

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

[@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.

[@The_Georgi0]

I'm literally considering interrailing around Europe next summer thx for the heads up!

[@avrilmaépilkington]

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

[@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?

[@thorstenhaul6866]

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!

[@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

[@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.

[@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!

[@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!

[@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).

[@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.

[@flemmingaaberg4457]

Great visualisations and diagrams!

[@julianzurn1428]

Btw Wissing is a major opponent of public transport, we could be in a way better state with less conservative parties…

[@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!

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@kilosierraalpha]

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

[@urbanstrencan]

Ok this is a huge investment in railroads, hope they pull it trough ❤ Great video

[@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...

[@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.

[@6099x]

Loved seeing this as a munich enjoyer - thank you

[@michael.strosche]

Wow, watching your videos for some years now and today my hometown was visible in the section about the "Riedbahn". Next week the trains are supposed to travel again on these tracks. And the whole project was within it's projected timespan. That's quite unusual for such big projects in Germany - not all projects must become a BER 😅 Thank you for all your hard work for these videos!

[@zzzzzzz1zzzzzzzzzz1z]

well researched, i can say as a german and frequent train traveler

[@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.

[@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.

[@sferris33]

At least they are trying to progress forward. My country (U.S.) wants to progress backwards.

[@humorfrei3630]

I like that you shed light on this kind of subject. Most of the german population have no idea what is happening in the next couple of years and i think the comprehensive overhaul of this train system will be a game changer fo everyday life. It will probably get worse in the next couple of years before it will get better but i think thats a major achievement in the grand scheme of things.

[@DeBaRe]

btw. München Hauptbahnhof is one of the three largest trainstations by platforms in Europe. With 32 platforms. (same as Gare du nord and Roma Termini). Guess only Grand Central is larger in the west. China idk and Japan is on another level anyways :D

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@kiffeeify]

Fun Fact: We are no longer known for our efficiency, but for our bureocracy!

[@BricksOnAnIsland]

... and our history of efficency. 🤪

[@b_uppy]

Switzerland made the trains something the rich want to ride, and it has been a successful endeavor. When the rich want to ride, trains get funding.

[@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

[@dEntz88]

The Riedbahn does seem to be quite the success story. As far as I know it is on time and within budget. And this the reason Deutsche Bahn and the German government elected to renovate the remaining key corridors the same. Let's hope the Riedbahn won't be the sole success story in their undertaking.

[@taddawesome]

There is one of these big plans every year. Then the plan gets cancelled and the ticket prices go up

[@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

[@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.

[@d.b.cooper1]

Meanwhile we're still bickering over HS2. Pathetic

[@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.😂

[@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

[@Marcus-xb7le]

It's almost as infrastructure is a primary driver for economic prosperity. And that if it doesn't keep up it becomes a bottleneck that can sink a whole economy. Europe is so smart.

[@rollinwithunclepete824]

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

[@MrAgLi]

2030 is a gonna be a good year for rail enthusiast

[@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.

[@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

[@andreasmetzger7619]

What's going to be interesting as well is the plan of the city of Frankfurt to basically build a huge underground terminal under the current main station. Frankfurt is a sack station, meaning the train has to go out of Frankfurt the same way it got in, so they made a plan to change that via a huge underground terminal and tunnels

[@edhillman7525]

I live not far from Frankfurt, and have enjoyed grumbling frequently about the Riedbahn upgrades, but, they are finishing on time, the improvements will be fantastic and the replacement bus services have actually been pretty good. Compared to the UK network where I grew up, there's no comparison. It's far from perfect, but overall it's not that bad. The fares are reasonable and the service is (usually) decent. When they closed the line here after the Euros I thought there was no chance they'd be done by xmas, but I was wrong.

[@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.

[@akaHerby]

I am unsure how you make ads interesting to watch but you find a way somehow

[@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 😉

[@Sasha-qf8eu]

You should really make a video on Slussen in Stockholm, Sweden. A really interesting and unique project with a ton of different parts in one of Stockholms main connection hubs. Would be fun to see!

[@tony9289]

If I know one thing about my country, then that it will cost twice as much, take 15 years longer and wont result in anything positive

[@MartyFox]

It’s always fun to get a good old-fashioned BIM sponsor

[@gwfan1994]

As somebody living in the biggest urban area in germany, Northrhine Westphalia, and as somebody using the trains regularly i can confidently say, our system is surpassing its max capacity and you can feel it. The Infrastructur Package is nowhere near enough to make a noticable impact for most of us ... But thats a big topic in germany rn anyway, our poltics neglected infrastructur all around the country for far too long.

[@miktr7664]

It's almost like conservatism isn't the stable, reliable solution that'll last forever...

[@TheKirilover]

Fair video, adressing some of the main reasons for the railways issue in germany, but you forgot one: the delay central hub. Let me explain. In France each major train station has been equipped with a "Delay Central Hub", basically a room full of computers and couple of engineers who are taking decisions to optimise delays. Ultimate target is to minimise impact on the other trainsm if one is delayed. And it works. While in Germany, this system doesn't exist, meaning one delay goes on top of the previous one and so on. At the end of the days, trains accumulate all the delays of the previous trains. This is catastrophic.

[@StarTrekkker]

I really hope, the 40 bn we spend until 2027 will not be the end of it, but the beginning. People want to use the train over the car, for a lot of reasons, policy makers should act accordingly and prioritize trains over cars. I am not so sure our next government will carry on that path.

[@shirkahn92]

Took now trains in Italy, Suisse, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Czech Rep. & Netherlands - I would say that the trains here are the most comfortable ones. And you have an onboard entertainment system which you also cannot find on the trains of our Suisse-neighbours. And the delay is mostly not that bad - at least if you take the long distance trains.

[@matthiasstoorvogel7443]

Cute to see the focus on passangers-rail-traffic. But don't forget the international freight-rail-traffic. The overhaul of the 40 High-performance routes will disrupt international traffic and push back more freight on trucks. This has rissen a lot of concerns within the sector. DB should first provided robust alternative routes before tackling the main routes. Afterwards you will gave an even more robust network!

[@pizazazaza]

I live in Stuttgart, the train experience is the worst. S-bahn gets delayed all the time and we miss other connecting trains, The trip at Hauptbahnhof is the WORST. Need to walk a Kilometer to go to my Station.

[@boba2783]

Good program and it was in time

[@darcyissues]

We are slowly heading the German way here in the NL, small country, yes, I know but given the Randstad is one big city in paper the trains actually work as the S-Bahn, and they have a lot of passengers, especially since the highways aren't the best option and trains connect pretty much everything. Now, not everything is rosy as it should... our trains couldn't go as fast they would like, the tracks aren't in the best possible state, and it got so bad with delays and cancellations, plus the need to go slower than even Eurostar is considering not coming anymore. Belgium is in the same state. The public does not want to pay more but the money has to come from somewhere, and with all the cuts we would eventually face similar issues despite all the patching that is being done. Add to that all plans for subways connection to Schiphol and Hoofdorp being basically scrapped for the time being there aren't many more ways to get to Schiphol. The mornings get so bad that some people prefer to stay the night before in a hotel airport to avoid delays, I myself almost lost a flight to LAX because some genious chose to allow work on a Sunday morning on ALL the tracks leaving from Utrecht, we live in the very bottle neck of this country, and it was a nightmare. All this said, compared to the DB our NS is pure bliss, and the government said no to any other companies getting some of the services, Arriva already has some, and the Dutch governments does not want more hands on this plate since they already tried it and it was a mess. These companies took the Dutch government to the EU court but still the Dutch government won't budge, nobody wants that mess not even in the name of free market.

[@tigersharkzh]

A few new railway stations won't fix the desolate condition of the track network.

[@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.