Sorry seems to be the hardest word
‘S
ORRY, not sorry’ seems to be the attitude of DB Fernverkehr (DBFV), the InterCity arm of Germany’s incumbent operator Deutsche Bahn, when it comes to chronic timekeeping issues that have persisted now for at least a couple of decades. Our view, based on journeys to/from InnoTrans in Berlin in September (see feature, p78) is that DBFV can’t run trains to time for toffee.
The worst thing is that the operator simply doesn’t seem that bothered. On two long-distance legs with DBFV, Rail Express was delayed, in one case missing an hourly connection, resulting in a late night wait on a cold platform. There was no mention of compensation, though Chris Milner, contributing editor to our sister title The Railway Magazine, who also suffered delays on a different service, reports that ‘Delay Repay’ style forms were offered on his laterunning train.
Observation at any major station on the German network soon reveals the extent of late running of DBFV services, which is all the more a shame, given that in other areas, such as digital ticketing, the company has shown admirable innovation.
Why does this matter to us in the UK? Well, Deutsche Bahn runs train services here, too, currently presiding over no less than three TOCs: the obvious DB Cargo and the less obvious CrossCountry and Chiltern Railways. Despite the last two having chopped back their timetables under the guise of Covid, timekeeping is apparently also an issue for reasons that aren’t immediately clear. Of course, other operators aren’t perfect. Eurostar, for example, held back the last Brussels-London service one recent Saturday night for half an hour. But at least they said sorry.