7 hours ago
It’s always the same: A system run at the boundary of its maximum throughput is brittle.
Tiny disturbances cascade and you get large fluctuations.
I have the standing hypothesis that there is a second order phase transition between free flowing trains and total collapse where the control parameter is the train density.
I just cannot identify the correct order parameter.
9 hours ago
> Resentment toward the government
Kinda, yes, but also, no, I expected better journalism from Le Monde? This is a bit heavy on extremist right-wing's talking points.
DB is a case of "kaputtgespart" (austered into brokenness), and pretty much all people I (German) know consider it either a result of failed privatization, or just privatization in general. They were squeezing it as tight as they could, in the hopes of throwing it public for good money. Except it never got there. And now we're dealing with the results of that.
At minimum the track part (they keep renaming themselves, I think it's DB InfraGO currently?) needs to be 100% renationalized.
[Ed.: honestly the article is not bad, I'm just confused why they had to bring in AfD commentary. They could've asked pretty much anyone and gotten the same.]
7 hours ago
A family member is in Germany this summer. He said he took a regional train from Aachen to Dusseldorf to Cologne. He said, at Dusseldorf Hbf, it was wall to wall people jostling each other to get on the train. He said there was a young couple with infant in a pram, who literally had to fight their way on a train because that train was already delayed 1+ hour and who knows when the next one will come.
The last time I took an DB ICE train was 20 years ago. It was a much more relaxed and pleasant experience then.
7 hours ago
The ICEs are still generally ok, as long as you're willing to play roulette with big delays and missed connections (last few I got ran perfectly).
Regional trains are part of Germany's new super cheap unlimited travel ticket, which excludes ICE and afaik this is why they are now super crowded but I haven't taken them recently so no first hand experience
9 hours ago
9 hours ago
Extremist lol. It lost any meaning because people keep overusing it.
8 hours ago
I may have phrased that weirdly, but AfD is officially by courts considered extremist in Germany; if I remember correctly they sued against being called that and lost.
8 hours ago
"The weight and influence of the automobile industry within the German economy and society have also been cited as structural obstacles to the development of rail."
Quite a understatement, because automobile industry is the backbone of German export economy. Anything that seriously competes with automobile industry is a BIG no for many German politicians with connections to automobile industry. Like the short lived public transport 9-Euro-Ticket.
7 hours ago
Italy is another country with an heavyweight auto industry, and yet their trains are so good and efficient they put Alitalia under water and are extending operations in neighboring countries.
9 hours ago
7 hours ago
Any more? You mean for the past decade or so at least.