Andreas Scheuer is against an obligation to make a reservation with the railway - also for financial reasons. An FDP expert expresses a lack of understanding: health must come first.
- Deutsche Bahn experienced difficult times during the Corona crisis: trains drove almost empty across the country for weeks.
- Now the number of passengers is rising again - but that is precisely what causes new concerns.
- A reservation is required. Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) also rejects this for financial reasons - and draws sharp criticism on himself and his party.
Berlin - Deutsche Bahn remains a problem child in the Corona crisis : After the dispute over mask controls, a possible reservation obligation is now the focus. Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU ) rejected such demands on Tuesday (August 25). Both this fact and Scheuer's reasoning, however, met with a strong lack of understanding among the opposition.
Scheuer and Söders CSU in the criticism: "The health of the people is clearly above these questions"
Scheuer explained that a reservation requirement meant less flexibility. There is also the risk that fares could rise and deficits in transport companies would have to be compensated because capacities are falling. Because the
capacity utilization of Deutsche Bahn fell during the Corona crisis and this caused holes in the balance sheet, the federal government has already promised billions in aid.
Scheuer received severe headwinds from the transport expert of the FDP parliamentary group, Christian Jung . "The railway already has a billion deficit - for me, people's health is clearly above these questions," he told the Ippen-Digital central editorial office. "What must not happen is that you use such arguments and in the end we have Corona trains - in the worst case one infected person is enough." In addition to the financial chaos, the railway should not also have a "hygiene chaos" to get.
Jung also explicitly targeted the CSU and party leader Markus Söder . “When you see that Mr. Söder teaches us every day about what we have to watch out for in other federal states than Bavaria, then you can expect that the CSU and its transport minister will ensure that Deutsche Bahn solves this problem. "
Railway in the Corona crisis: FDP politician calls for pandemic rules - "I completely incomprehensible ..."
Jung expressed a lack of understanding for the fact that almost six months after the start of the pandemic, there is still no reservation requirement with Deutsche Bahn . "There was more than enough time to adjust to Corona in terms of transport policy and digitally through intelligent solutions," he explained. "That's why it is completely incomprehensible to me that in this situation you can't get a seat reservation with your ticket at the same time."
The FDP politician reported numerous letters, especially from elderly people who shy away from rail travel due to concerns about overcrowded trains. Even before Corona, trains were always full on some routes , in some cases people were "standing or sitting on the floor in 1st class, in the bistro and 2nd class". "For fire protection reasons, for example, this is very worrying even without a pandemic - and it is now even more important to avoid it," emphasized Jung. Flexibility could not be the problem here: "Via app" users of the BahnCard 100 could also get reservations free of charge and without problems.
No problem! Says Deutsche Bahn. Says the Minister of Transport. Indeed not? Our # MONITOR film about the #Corona infection risk in overcrowded trains. Now freshly uploaded on our YouTube channel. https://t.co/f12eo0TBqD
- Georg Restle (@georgrestle) August 25, 2020"The railway knows exactly that there are capacity problems," said Jung in an interview with the Ippen-Digital central editorial office . In addition to a reservation requirement, it makes sense to occupy only every second seat and provide additional cars from the InterCity's replacement fleet. Jung also suggested giving people at large transfer stations longer stopping times to get to the wagon with their seat outside the train “in peace and quiet”.
Corona: Train drivers' union is also calling for reservations to be made - Pofalla does not experience any overcrowded trains
A reservation obligation in long-distance traffic has been demanded again and again in the Corona crisis , for example by the union of German locomotive drivers - so that the necessary seat distances between passengers can be maintained.
However, rail infrastructure director Ronald Pofalla also spoke out against a reservation requirement. Pofalla said he took the train a lot but couldn't report any overcrowded trains. The distance regulations could be observed. A reservation requirement would have an impact on capacities, he also emphasized. ( fn with material from dpa )
The mask requirement also repeatedly causes problems on the train. Recently, an AfD politician even made negative headlines.