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Comment by palata | Hacker News Reader

I am pretty sure that they know about the delays. A nice thing about the Deutsche Bahn is that they exist. It's not the case in every country in the world.

Sure, they can improve, but it seems possible. The French SNCF has improved a lot in the last decade, for instance.

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This is true. DB trains get me from one point to another point, and in my experience, are usually not more than a few hours delayed end-to-end.

Remember that if your train is delayed more than a certain amount (30 minutes?) you have the legal right to ignore the routing on your ticket and take any train you want, that leads towards the destination on your ticket. Consider it an adventure. The app can suggest alternative routes in real-time, and you can also ask at the info desk at any station that has one.

Huge number of people use DB for regional transport for commute. They get affected by 10 mins delay since connections are missed

The free choice of train does take this into account. You just need a (single!) ticket that, overall, will expectedly suffer from a delay long enough.

Nitpick: Unless it changed, you cannot upgrade from regional to interregional vehicles. You can upgrade from IC to ICE, though, and in general, the free choice of vehicle on your route is very useful.

> Remember that if your train is delayed more than a certain amount (30 minutes?) you have the legal right to ignore the routing on your ticket and take any train you want, that leads towards the destination on your ticket

There's definitely a comedy docudrama in there somewhere.

You're actually not necessarily right.

At this point here in the south of Germany not having DB would be an improvement.

Now it exists and you might even try to take it just to be delayed and disappointed. You'll lose your money and they behave in their arrogant manner with impunity.

Their customer "service" will definitely tell you how it's your own fault for having had the nerve to actually try to take their train. You might have even carried some dirt to the train for Christs sake!

So yeah. Not having it would already be an improvement. You'd just shrug and move on and take an alternative transport. Even horse and carriage would be better.

I understand your frustration, and as I said they should improve (though that probably requires time and money). The SNCF shows that it is possible.

> Even horse and carriage would be better.

How does the existence of the DB prevent you from travelling with your horse and carriage? Your attitude doesn't seem very constructive, to be honest.

> A nice thing about the Deutsche Bahn is that they exist. It's not the case in every country in the world.

EU does not have a train monopoly. There are other train companies in Germany (FlixTrain, OBB, BRB...). And operators from other countries can also operate there, even French SNCF!

DB is blocking slots on rail, that could be used by other operators. And they are not going to change because it is Germany.

All operators run on DB infrastructure.

I recently experienced this with CD from Karlovy Vary to Berlin. It was snowing that day and inside of the Czech Republic I was enjoying the scenic view of the Egerland without any delays.

But as soon as we pulled into Germany, the train came to a stop - problems with the rail security infrastructure, nothing the train operator has any influence on.

We eventually arrived in Berlin with +1h delay.

> All operators run on DB infrastructure.

Rails, buildings and train stations are in separate company (DB InfraGO), owned by DB.

But DB has no monopoly on trains in Germany, any company can run trains there.

My opinion is that trains are a natural monopoly, they should belong to the government.

Fine if some trains go through it (e.g. a TGV between Paris and Berlin).

I can see rails being natural monopoly, but trains?

Well the trains go with the rails. It makes no sense to compete on the same rails...

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