Germany's identity crisis: The trains no longer run on time

BERLIN — Germany: the land of beer, sausage and trains that run on time. Actually, make that the land where 56 percent of trains run on time. More precisely (or imprecisely, depending on how much of a rush you are in), the land where 56 percent of trains arrive within six minutes of the scheduled time — which is the cushion Deutsche Bahn, the national railroad company, allows itself for an “on-time” arrival.

In Germany, punctuality is part of the national ethos. So to hear Germans talk about it, the recent problems afflicting the country’s train network are nothing short of a national crisis.

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Here’s how bad it’s gotten: Since late April, Switzerland has banned some German trains from traveling beyond the Swiss border city of Basel because delays on the Deutsche Bahn network have been wreaking havoc. Passengers traveling onward must change at Basel to more trustworthy Swiss trains.

“It is very embarrassing for Germany that this once reliable railway system has now become so run down,” said Detlef Neuss, federal chairman of Pro Bahn, an association that advocates for German rail passengers.

Thirty years of underinvestment have finally caught up with the country’s vaunted train network, Neuss said. “You get to a certain point where it doesn’t work anymore,” he said, “and we’re at that point now.”

On July 26, a German high-speed train bound for Hamburg malfunctioned outside Vienna, stranding about 400 passengers in a tunnel without power, light or air conditioning for more than six hours. Rescue workers eventually evacuated the passengers via emergency exits.

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