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According to the left leader, the first class could be released in crowded trains
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / picture alliance / dpa
At Pentecost, "everything that can roll has rolled," announced regional head of Deutsche Bahn, Jörg Sandvoss.
However, "everything that can roll" wasn't enough for the rush everywhere.
Trains were sometimes overcrowded, passengers could not board and bicycles could not be taken.
More than 6.5 million 9-euro tickets have currently been sold, according to a Deutsche Bahn statement.
Left leader Janine Wissler thinks that the train should open first class to all passengers on overcrowded trains.
The demand is not surprising: as early as 2019, then-chairman Bernd Riexinger had initiated a debate on the abolition of first class.
At that time there was clear opposition from both Deutsche Bahn and the passenger association "Pro Bahn".
"That's utter nonsense," said honorary chairman Karl-Peter Naumann.
»If I want to create more space, I need longer trains.«
In addition, the Group division DB Regio drives on behalf of states and municipalities and is based on their equipment requirements - and the first class has continued to shrink in recent years, but is still desired in many regions.
Wissler said on Tuesday in a first assessment by the left of the 9-euro ticket that everything else should be done in the short term to increase capacity, for example by using double-decker cars.
With the 9-euro offer, it was possible for more people to take the train, including those who would otherwise not do so, said Wissler.
The overloading of many trains is not due to the 9-euro ticket, but to a failed transport policy.
The reactivation of railway lines is necessary because this is faster than new construction.
The 9-euro ticket comes at a critical time for Deutsche Bahn.
Tarek Al-Wazir, the green transport minister in Hesse, says in the current SPIEGEL cover story that the project will tend to exacerbate the fundamental problem of public transport: the states have far too little money to offer a good service.
bul/dpa