With no place to park ICE-type trains, the German railway company lets them circulate on lines in and around the German capital.
The German railway company Deutsche Bahn puts empty trains traveling along Berlin’s tracks at night.
The newspaper Der Tagesspiegel reports, citing inside sources, that “five to six ICE trains run through the city and surrounding areas at night without passengers.”
This is because of the lack of places to park them. Berlin is located in the extreme northeast of Germany, and many long-distance lines terminate in the capital. Therefore, many connections begin in the city in the morning and end at night – but there are no tracks for the trains to park.
As railway lines in and around the capital are constantly busy, it is necessary to move trains onto tracks that are momentarily available.
A company spokesperson described this procedure to Tagesspiegel as “a completely normal operating procedure“.
According to the German newspaper, the planned construction of service lines (for parking) south of Berlin was abandoned by the railway company after protests of local residents. Another such infrastructure is planned for the northern district of Pankow.
Lack of tracks and drivers
The seemingly aimless movement of trains at night doesn’t just consume electricity. The drivers who run these empty trains at night are not available to travel with passengers during the day.
This aggravates a well-known problem in Germany: lack of qualified labor. According to Wirtschaftswoche magazine, the Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) estimates that there are 1,200 train driver vacancies to be filled.
The shortage exists despite the fact that, according to rail transport advocacy organization Allianz pro Schiene, around a thousand new skilled workers enter the market every year. In light of plans to transfer more traffic to railway lines, at least 5,000 new drivers would be needed per year in the coming years.
Jokes with station timetables
Despite the clear difficulties in expanding the railway network and hiring qualified workers, there is at least progress in digitalization.
At the end of November, Deutsche Bahn announced that from December 15th it would no longer display posters with arrival times on platforms. In addition to yellow posters with train departure times at a station, there are white posters with expected arrival times.
The reason given by the company for this measure was to save paper and administrative costs. Instead of printed timetables, QR codes would be made available with access to updated information on arrival times.
As the company explained: “Travelers need reliable information in real time.” The ‘enjoyment’ on social media was not long in coming: “It makes perfect sense, because whether or not a train arrives is pure luck.“, wrote a user on the social network X.
Although Deutsche Bahn trains have recently improved somewhat in terms of punctuality, according to the company, more than a third of stops on long-distance journeys are made with delay.
Possibly to avoid further criticism, Deutsche Bahn backtracked. Last Friday he announced that, in reaction to criticism, the posters with arrival times printed at stations will be maintained. Critics have argued that not everyone has a smartphone or knows how to use a QR code.
Despite the problems, the Germans continue to use trains.
Since the 1990s, train passenger numbers have increased by about 50%, and freight transport has nearly doubled. Since then, Deutsche Bahn has also increased the number of locomotives and carriages, but at the same time the railway network has shrunk by more than 10%.
