On the contrary, Deutsche Bahn and DSB (Danish state railways) seem determined to pushing us into the arms of Norwegian (airlines) and even Flixbus.
On a recent trip to Denmark, my loyalty to train travel was put to the test once again.
First of all, there is no direct train between Berlin and Copenhagen. True story – believe it or not. We have to change in Hamburg, a central station which is too small and cramped for the number of people and trains it serves.
Secondly, it had not been possible to make a seat reservation for the Hamburg-Copenhagen journey. There was no explanation why not. I was happy to find a seat in a compartment which must have been about 50 years old.
The train from Hamburg to Copenhagen (which was the starting point of that leg of the journey) arrived at the platform half an hour late. Hundreds of people just stood there, waiting, like sardines in a tin, with no communication whatsoever.
The toilets were filthy from the start, and during the journey, they were locked one after the other due to dysfunction. In the end, there was not one single functioning toilet on that train.
There was no communication whatsoever on the part of the driver or staff during the journey: no welcoming message with explanation as to the delay, no announcements of next stop, no estimated time of arrival and of course no explanation of, let alone apologies for, the further delay which ended up totalling almost an hour and a quarter. Not one pip-squeak from the driver at any time.
The display in the corridor of the ancient train kept stating the original arrival time and did so right till the end of the journey.
On the return journey from Copenhagen to Hamburg, the train was “only” fifteen minutes late leaving Copenhagen.
The carriage in which I had booked a seat did not exist. I thought it was only DB and ÖBB that sold reservations for seats in non-existent carriages. Now I know that DSB does it too. The one in which I was squeezed in had no ventilation and soon many of us spent most of the journey in the corridor in order not to get sick from the heat and lack of air. No sight of any staff till about three quarters of an hour before we reached Hamburg.
If DB and DSB would acknowledge each others’ existence, and bother to look at a map, they would see that Denmark and Germany are neighbouring countries; that Berlin is just down the road from Copenhagen, and vice-versa: Copenhagen is just up the road from Berlin.
Also, in case they had not noticed, there is a climate crisis, and short flights pollute disproportionately, and with transport time to and from airport, check-in time, security queues etc., also take a disproportionate amount of time.
There are enough people travelling between the two cities, and we are all supposed to choose rail over air travel, but – with the governments’ blessings – they keep making train travel more and more uncomfortable, bothersome, stressful and more and more expensive, while air travel is allowed to become easier and easier and cheaper and cheaper.
Ideally, there would be a direct ICE train between Berlin and Copenhagen, but that seems like so much wishful thinking. Much too easy and comfortable. After all, it seems that DB and DSB would rather stick needles under their fingernails than acknowledge each others’s existence let alone communicate across borders, but if they did, their common motto would probably be something like: “If only there was a way for us to conduct our businesses without those bloody passengers”.
Next time, for me: Flixbus. It can’t be worse, but it is definitely a heck of a lot cheaper.
