this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
313 points (97.3% liked)

World News

38255 readers
2207 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Deutsche Bahn’s once-admired service has descended into chaos. Whether decades of poor investment or the company’s unusual structure is to blame, it’s a huge headache for a coalition trying to meet climate goals

The sleek high-speed train is 10 minutes behind schedule when it slides into Cologne’s main station before continuing its journey north to Dortmund. The delay is now such a common occurrence that the train manager does not even both to mention it to disembarking passengers.

In late afternoon on an unremarkable weekday in this western German city, holidaymakers are hauling suitcases through the station, workers are commuting home, and the late arrival of Deutsche Bahn’s IC 118 from Innsbruck is no surprise.

It does cause annoyance, though: a glance at the departures and arrivals board prompts one middle-aged man carrying a backpack to swear loudly as he enters the station.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 81 points 10 months ago (8 children)

Former managers of Deutsche Bahn did not care to invest into modernization. Managers get money for showing and keeping plus in their Excel sheets. They leave the company with all kinds of bonuses for that and risk no repercussions.

The next generation of managers are simply fucked. They inherit all the neglected infrastructure and bad processes.

Additionally politics made it even worse. They told the managers that repairs are not a matter of subsidies. Only new infrastructure is supported. So Deutsche Bahn literally let the tracks and stations rot until they need to be totally renewed.

This all based on absolute greed. And the best is you can harm Germany for free without any risks and keep all your money. No one here would get the idea to jail the responsible people who let it happen.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (1 children)

repairs are not a matter of subsidies. Only new infrastructure is supported.

That's a big problem. If you incentivize a company to not maintain the infrastructure because you will pay for it once it's completely broken it will be completely broken.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The company should still maintain the infrastructure, or pay back their consumers for every missed train. They've been making profit year-in year-out, the least they could do is throw some of their pocket change at the repair crew.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But most of those profits are coming from (or at least came from) DB Schenker, the trucking branch of the Deutsche Bahn. So they made their profits on the roads, not the tracks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Ah I see, thanks for the context. Nonetheless, can't DB take the profits from the Trucks and invest it in the Trains?

load more comments (6 replies)