Damn I am tired of people laughing about Deutsche Bahn.

[alberich@social.tchncs.de]

@jon Thank you for this crossborder perspective. I think we try to laugh because the sense of loss is so strong for anyone who remembers (correctly or not) DB as a point of pride.

[jon@gruene.social]

@odoruhako Yes. Totally this! And fundamentally Deutsche Bahn is *trying* to do the right thing, somehow, still. Just within massive constraints.

[jon@gruene.social]

@operand SNCB is underrated in my view - I think it is solid (I wish some of the trains were nicer inside, but that is a minor point). It's definitely better than its reputation.

[jon@gruene.social]

@alberich That ought to be a cause for anger, not laughter! But yes, I sort of see the point. (Please also be aware I am German, as well as British)

[mgleadow@mastodon.green]

@odoruhako @jon this is not exclusive to Germany either. Plenty of people in the UK assume all European railways are perfect and it's just ours that runs into issues.

I'm not sure what it is that makes a nation want to kick their railway when nationalism is so good at falsely attributing brilliance to the mediocre

[stoori@polyglot.city]

@operand @jon i guess people in every country joke or complain about their trains being always late. germany is an outlier mainly in that respect that it's become an international joke.

for example in finland finnish people, in their usual exceptionalist way, think that VR must be the most unreliable railway company. well, in comparison to other european companies, it's not. and while finnish train services are not very frequent, VR actually makes sure that everyone makes it to their...

[stoori@polyglot.city]

@operand @jon ...destination, that is, they have guaranteed connections. i've understood that it's not very common in other european countries, but you may have more data on this. anyway, what this means that whenever you step on a VR train, you can be sure that you'll get to your destination in the end, if not by train then by a taxi paid by VR.

i simply see no reason to joke about VR's reliability, even though at times it feels like all their trains are running late.

[pgoetz@mastodon.social]

@jon Thank you very much for this post. I really like that it is balanced and fair and points out the good and the bad. And most thanks of all to pointing out that this is not because people at Deutsche Bahn are bad, but that our politicians neglected our railway infrastructure and organization for long enough to now feel those consequences heavily.

[markhburton@mstdn.social]

@jon
Interesting and credible.
A question though. You promote the German Green Party, effectively saying a vote for any other party is a vote against rail investment. Is that true for Die Linke too?

[plactagonic@f.cz]

@jon I think it is bit of every nations joke about their railway infrastructure.

ČD - stands for "čekám dlouho" (waiting long) classic here

But after some traveling I don't find them funny anymore.

[jonas_bostrom@mastodonsweden.se]

@jon Delayed German trains can be really annoying, especially when you get stuck somewhere. But I agree, it generally works fine, and there are other trains to choose from.

[mgleadow@mastodon.green]

@samuele963 @odoruhako @jon there's a certain amount of cherry picking that's for sure

[ja_e_i_o_u@norden.social]

@jon @alberich
Anger towards people really in charge, yes. But laughter makes the situation easier to bare.
(Hello and thank you to @BahnAnsagen ! )

(But actually, I'm often enough angry about missed connections.)

[jonas_bostrom@mastodonsweden.se]

@jon Although it was a bit annoying when I had to spend half the night helping my sister when she got stuck in Basel one evening, and then having to help her the next day again when she got stuck in Hamburg.

Or the time I spent at a station in rural Sachsen a very hot summer day waiting for a train that just kept getting more and more delayed…

[rainerzufall_le@mastodon.social]

@jon I heard lots of Danes complaining about DSB, but I had some really great experiences with them trying to smooth things out. Granted, Denmark is a lot smaller than Germany

[jon@gruene.social]

@markhburton Die Linke never said much on this. But didn’t damage the railways, that’s true.

[jon@gruene.social]

@mariusor ha. Just sit me in a ICE3neo. I’m cheap

[jon@gruene.social]

@rainerzufall_le DSB can fail spectacularly as well though!

[rainerzufall_le@mastodon.social]

@jon Then I'll have to stop taking trains in Denmark to stay in my honeymoon period

[feliz@norden.social]

@jon As a German, I’d like to say thank you! I’m fed up too with all this constant and ritualistic drivel about how Deutsche Bahn is supposedly always unreliable. It has somehow become a clichéd outrage culture in Germany: people moan about the railway to foster a sense of community. This shared indignation is used in a somehow masochistic way for social bonds or a sense of identity.

If booked in good time and planned sensibly, it's possible to travel with DB really cheaply and comfortably.