The problem of the train: punctuality

Created: 07/12/2022, 07:07

Arrive: 9 euro ticket.

© Arne Dedert

The 9-euro ticket is well received.

A big problem, however, is the punctuality of the S-Bahn - which leaves a lot to be desired.

Dachau – Significantly more people have been traveling by train since June.

The volume of travel on the rails is 42 percent higher than in pre-Corona June 2019, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

Josef Mittl, volunteer station godfather, member of Pro Bahn and lobbyist, likes the 9-euro ticket.

"No traffic jams, no stress, no looking for a parking space," says the 56-year-old from Petershausen, who relies on public transport every day.

He himself uses the bus, S-Bahn, U-Bahn and regional train twice a week to get to work.

The trains are busier on the weekends

"In the morning, the frequency in the S-Bahn has actually remained unchanged since the introduction of the 9-euro ticket," the railway activist observed.

But at the weekend, the trains of his observation and that of other pro-Bahn colleagues and stakeholders are significantly "fuller".

"People are standing at the door as far as they will go," Mittl saw with his own eyes.

However, it is mainly the trains on Saturdays in the direction of the mountains that are becoming more and more crowded on the way from Ingolstadt or Nuremberg to Munich.

Mittl and his colleagues often observe "groups with many young people with drinks".

The station godfather, who has been responsible for the station in Petershausen for 13 years and reports damage or broken lamps, suspects that they might go to the English Garden to celebrate.

Even if the morning S-Bahn isn't full and Mittl hasn't heard from official sources about the "displeasure of the staff" who could feel more stressed due to a higher volume of public transport, there is one concern that worries him and which often poses challenges for many commuters: the issue of punctuality and connections to other means of transport.

“I usually spend 50 percent of my time waiting.

The railways have to work to ensure that the trains run on time and that connections are guaranteed,” says Petershausen.

Second trunk route could help

The second regular route, which is currently being hotly debated again, could remedy the situation.

According to Mittl, broken points and problems with the signal stations are often responsible for the failures and delays.

"As a commuter, I don't experience it anymore," the 56-year-old suspects with regard to the second regular route.   

At the moment there is even talk of a construction freeze, which Prime Minister Markus Söder is strongly opposed to (we reported).

CSU General Secretary Martin Huber calls on Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) to make a “clear commitment to the second regular route”.

Most recently, the news caused a stir that the costs should now be 7.2 billion euros instead of 3.85 billion and that the commissioning could be postponed from 2028 to 2037.

According to Söder, there is even a possibility of "filling in" the previous excavations for around two billion euros.

The prime minister is currently strictly rejecting this “construction freeze”.

The main route is the busiest route in Europe with 840,000 S-Bahn passengers during the week.

Many of them use the 9-euro ticket, which Josef Mittl also hopes to extend.

This is easy to imagine, especially in the current “energy crisis”.

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