Germany's DB and ICE trains

So I heard from a fellow artist in Germany about their DB and ICE trains.

That DB is consistently horrible, and the ICE is nice... when it works.

Anyone over in Germany can verify that?

DB is the German national railroad carrier, the ICE is part of it, its their high speed trains.

I am an American, with a vacation home in Germany, where I am now in Hamburg. I have always found the German Ubahns, Sbahns, and the LD DB or IC/EC trains excellent, on time, and comfortable rides. The ICE is fastest and very nice also. However, I have never had a problem with any German rail and I have been coming here for 25 years. All beats the hell out of Amtrak and/or the regional commuter systems, hands down.

I have a feeling that their idea of horrible is 1 minute late and a piece of litter on the floor

I’ve never heard anything bad about Deutsche Bahn, though I’ve never ridden.

Hi,

I'm from Germany and currently commuting by ICE.

As a short explanation: DB consists of many parts as e.g.:
DB Netz - Provider of infrastructure
DB StuS - Provider of Stations
DB Regio - Provider of "Nahverkehr" (near-distance-transport, which is just ordered by the authorities of the 16 states)
DB Fernverkehr - Provider of long-distance-trains (ICE, IC, etc)

In nearly everything which happens in rail transport in Germany DB is involved this way. When your train is delayed, maybe it's an infrastructural damage or a failure on the train or on another train, DB is a part of the problem anyway.

So it is no surprise that DB has no good reputation although things are going more or less well. Punctualitiy in Nahverkehr is pretty good, in long-distance-traffic a little worse but more than 70% of all ICE/IC/... trains are just 5 minutes or less delayed.

Most problems people in Germany see with rail traffic are caused by politics. The federal government don't want to pay for infrastructure and long-distance-rail and the states already pay for all their own trains (RE, RB, S-Bahn).

Long story short: yes if you travel by train in Germany frequently you see many things that are bothering you, the delays, big gaps in timetables (yesterday evening I had to wait for nearly 30 minutes because there was no other train linking two >200.000-cities on a 7.5-km-distance, where up to 7 trains per hour are riding), inadequate information politics and so on. But from trips to seven other countries I know for a fact that we are not alone with those problems.

Best regards from ICE 121

PS: ICE is very nice, if everything works. But Wifi, sockets, AC, toilets, dining car, I guess there isn't one day, where everything is working as it should...

(I sent it by my phone, sorry for any mistakes)

ALR997: thank you for your viewpoint! That’s less punctual than I thought, actually, and I see why users would be very frustrated if they were used to 10 minute connections and fully-functional cars.

Be glad you aren’t riding Amtrak or VIA daily though

What does StuS stand for?

mtuandrew wrote:ALR997: thank you for your viewpoint! That’s less punctual than I thought, actually, and I see why users would be very frustrated if they were used to 10 minute connections and fully-functional cars.

Be glad you aren’t riding Amtrak or VIA daily though

What does StuS stand for?

Hi Andrew,

Sitting in an ICE with a delay of 60 minutes and no possibility to change to my train home - although we are riding on the same route for 200 km - I'm getting frustrated again right now . 5 rides, 5 times delayed, all together I spent eight hours more on these trips than the timetable promised. But I guess, it's a lot better than travelling in the UK or the US.

But to your question: StuS is the nickname - officially it's Station und Service, but StuS (or better Stuss) can describe something really stupid

ALR997 wrote:

mtuandrew wrote:ALR997: thank you for your viewpoint! That’s less punctual than I thought, actually, and I see why users would be very frustrated if they were used to 10 minute connections and fully-functional cars.

Be glad you aren’t riding Amtrak or VIA daily though

What does StuS stand for?

Hi Andrew,

Sitting in an ICE with a delay of 60 minutes and no possibility to change to my train home - although we are riding on the same route for 200 km - I'm getting frustrated again right now . 5 rides, 5 times delayed, all together I spent eight hours more on these trips than the timetable promised. But I guess, it's a lot better than travelling in the UK or the US.

But to your question: StuS is the nickname - officially it's Station und Service, but StuS (or better Stuss) can describe something really stupid

That sucks. Hope you've gotten home by now - I like trains, but I also like to sleep in my own bed.

I'm consistently surprised how DB brands its services in English. To me, it makes more sense to brand StuS as BuB (Bahnhöfe und Bedienungen), even with how multilingual modern German society has become.

mtuandrew wrote:(...)
I'm consistently surprised how DB brands its services in English. To me, it makes more sense to brand StuS as BuB (Bahnhöfe und Bedienungen), even with how multilingual modern German society has become.

Hi Andrew,
yes, the so-called "Denglish" sometimes leads to very strange Word-creations, but to make it clear:
The term "Station" is being used for almost 200+ years for any kind of stops, even for the early horse drawn mail coach.
There were even "Central-Station(s)" in bigger cities, way back then.
Your suggestion "Bahnhöfe und Bedienungen" would sound, even if you're used to bureaucratic terms in Germany, very strange.
"Station" can be used for any kind of stops, small rural ones or the biggest railway cathedrals, so "Station und Service" brings it down to the point.
Greez from southwest Germany.

Hi Andrew,

the Motorman explained it quite well. As well "Station" as "Service" are words, which are in use since a long time. The extensive use of english words has been reduced in the last years, as well as the use of capital letters (InterCity, RegionalExpress, ReiseZentrum).

And last but not least: yesterday I reached my home at 10.30pm

Best regards

Herr Pachelbel is turning over in his grave. But nevertheless, "cute":

https://youtu.be/cD3QlR98--A

Since we are approaching Christmas and this thread is about DB I'll post this video again

Deutsche Bahn Nikolaus Überraschungsaktion 2012 am Hauptbahnhof Frankfurt

https://youtu.be/ap51e4EKUWE