Deutsche Bahn

A collection of 39 posts

Deutsche Bahn

Your Deutsche Bahn "joke" is no longer funny (if it ever was)

Before starting my record attempt between Kemijärvi, Finland and Lagos, Portugal, people told me over and over it would break down in Germany. So much so that I even tried to re-but (pre-but?) some of the likely critique. Now, having made the trip, and none of the total

Analysis

Deutsche Bahn has an amazing opportunity in ticket sales, but is too blinded by Flixtrain to seize it

While clearing old belongings here (pre-move to France) I stumbled across a 2003 Interrail diary of mine, and in it were timetables for trains in Italy and Romania printed out from the website of Deutsche Bahn. Today, 21 years on, I am still using Deutsche Bahn's website

Analysis

Faster trains between München and Milano, and München and Roma? Possible, but not quite in the way Merkur frames it

Over on Mastodon, Gregor Herrmann pointed me towards this story in German publication Merkur about German, Austrian and Italian railways planning faster rail connections between München and Milano, and München and Roma. ORF and Die Presse covered the story in Austria, but here I am going to focus on the

European Union

A diagram to explain EU cross border rail passengers rights - and to push for political change

I managed to make a bit of a name for myself throughout the Brexit process by turning the complexities of the it into complex flow diagrams. I've used similar techniques to explain party leadership processes in UK and Germany, how to choose a Bundesliga team to support, and

Analysis

If COVID is now endemic, it's time to discuss permanent changes to the way we behave - like wear-a-mask zones on long distance trains

Christian Drosten has today stated that the COVID pandemic is over, and the virus is now endemic. That has led, rather predictably, to the demand that all Corona protection measures be lifted in Germany - FDP Justice Minister Buschmann was the swiftest to make this demand today. But that COVID is

Germany

Germany's 49 Euro Ticket Deutschlandticket - a FAQ

My Mastodon and Twitter feeds have been full of people asking about how Germany's new 49 Euro public transport ticket (also known as Deutschlandticket) is going to work. So here in this post I will try to give answers to all the frequently asked questions about the ticket!

Analysis

Europe's railways: unable to play the role they should in the climate transition

Two interesting pieces of information about transport and the climate transition crossed my timeline yesterday. This tweet from TUMI: https://twitter.com/TUMInitiative/status/1511405279103045635 And this New York Times story entitled In Europe, It’s Planes vs. Trains. For Many Travelers, Rail Is the Way to Go. The problem

Guides

How to use Deutsche Bahn's De Connect tickets for train trips between Germany and London

Background Deutsche Bahn used to sell tickets called London Spezial that offered incredible value train tickets from Germany to London, changing onto the Eurostar in Brussels. These tickets were discontinued in March 2020, officially due to a change of Eurostar's IT systems, but more likely because they were

Analysis

Skyscanner for rail? Before we can even build such a thing we need a European rail timetable

In as far as there is a debate about the problems of cross border railways in Europe, one question crops up over and over: "why is there no Skyscanner for rail?" If one website can aggregate all the flights in Europe and allow a customer to compare prices

Austria

#BerlinBledBerlin trip report

I am writing this blog post at the end of a 5 day trip from Berlin to Bled in Slovenia by train and back, through the 4th wave of the COVID pandemic and crossing Austria in lockdown. I've been tweeting about the trip as I went along on

Analysis

#ZugGegenFlug - an idea

Mark Smith and Simon Calder are having a race today. Mark is taking the new Lumo train from London to Edinburgh, and Simon is racing him - on a flight. It's a bit of fun, but with a serious purpose - as passengers often underestimate the time it takes them

Germany

How to book a Stockholm-Hamburg train ticket, using the Stockholm-Malmö night train

*** WARNING: I have never done this personally! Attempt this at your own risk! *** Anders Peterson, Associate Professor in traffic systems at Linköping University in Sweden, posed an interesting question on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andpe41/status/1448343509740789767 Anders even pointed out that Swedish rail company SJ has been talking about

Analysis

Long distance rail in Europe - an absence of a discernible strategy

Trains are a good thing. Capable of shipping huge quantities of people and freight over long distances and doing so without most of the downsides of road or air transport. Politicians of pretty much any political colour will be happy to say they are pro-rail. 2021 is even European

Analysis

Europatakt - a vision for EU-wide rail?

I have set foot in the Swiss town of Biel/Bienne more often than I care to remember, and for strictly 6 minutes each time. For that is where the Basel SBB-Lausanne InterCity train crosses the Zürich HB-Genève service, and as my trips are always Basel SBB - Genève,

Analysis

How could the EU solve the night train conundrum? Procure a massive fleet of night train carriages and lease them to operators

From the doldrums of a few years ago - when Deutsche Bahn left the business of running night trains completely - this mode of transport is back. Or at least in terms of public attention it's back. Snälltåget has bold plans for Sweden to Germany services in 2021, and the

Analysis

Why is the Berlin-Amsterdam train so slow? And why is it so hard to do anything about it?

This tweet and news story from The Netherlands caught my eye this morning - "Dutch Railways will make trains to Berlin and Brussels much faster: "We want to seduce air passengers"" the title says. Whether prioritising that route - to get people off planes - even makes sense is

Analysis

Don't be distracted by ÖBB's shiny night train to Brussels - the problems of EU-wide rail run far deeper

Hey journalists! I'm glad to see you're writing about trains! ÖBB running its first NightJet to Brussels seems to have got you into a particular frenzy. It's amazing what a bit of red carpet at Gare du Midi, and Martin Selmayr on board, can

European Union

A rail postcard from Passow (Uckermark)

Dear Violeta, It has been a little while since I last wrote you a postcard from one of my cross-border rail trips. But this week I took a little journey from Berlin to Szczecin / Stettin in West Pomerania in Poland, represented in the European Parliament by Bogusław Liberadzki - who

Analysis

The cheapest Deutsche Bahn Sparpreis across central Germany... starts in Czech Republic

I've discovered a few tricks to book extra cheap rail tickets in the past - I've explained the Eurostar Aachen trick, and how to split tickets in Germany, but now - thanks to a discussion on Twitter with @seatsixtyone and others, there is a new trick - involving Czech

Belgium

A rail postcard from Brussels

(this is part of my Rail Postcards to the Transport Commissioner series - you can find all the other postcards here) Dear Violeta, I'd hoped to not have to write another one of these postcards to you so soon after my last one. But things go wrong all too

Belgium

A rail postcard from Aachen

Dear Violeta, Today I am writing to you from Aachen, and I am not here for the Christmas Market. I am here because I am stuck due to the immense incompetence of European railways and the lack of basic collaboration between them in the interests of passengers. This story is

Guides

Taking the train is a strain - Newport to Berlin case

My parents live in Newport in South Wales. I live in Berlin. I am going home for Christmas, and so - on 27th December - I want to return to Berlin. All in one day. By train. If I wanted to do this in a few weeks' time, it would look

European Union

A rail postcard from Baden Baden

Dear Violeta, Have you ever changed trains in Baden Baden (in Baden-Württemberg between Freiburg (Breisgau) and Karlsruhe)? I guess not. It's a pretty unlikely place to have to hop off a TGV and onto a ICE, but that's what I had to do there today

European Union

A rail postcard from Köln

Dear Violeta, It's only a week or so since I wrote the last postcard to you. That one didn't receive a response - perhaps you were too busy talking to the rail industry, rather than thinking of passengers' needs? Anyway, today at Köln Hbf things went

Analysis

Not always the cheapest train in France, and a sneaky 50 cent Belgian charge

A couple of weeks ago Seat61 had the splash that booking cross-border France-Spain TGVs would cost you more on French language websites than anywhere else (Seat61's news page here - you have to scroll down as he has no link to individual stories). After a bit of