Trains in Germany

kc56

Recently I travelled from Czech Rep to Germany on a scheduled direct service. it would have had 4 loco changes 1 - electric to diesel, 2 - diesel to diesel at the border, 3 - diesel runaround, 4 diesel to electric. Plus at one point3 carriages were dropped. Just like it was 40 years ago. Oh, and the A/C went off during the loco changes.

However all did not go to plan. As there was a lot of single track working the train ran over 30 mins behind schedule at which point it was terminated! Passengers were advised/told to take 2 local trains to complete the journey. Nice. And the free WiFi stopped working at the border. The Local trains in Germany did not have WiFi.

goingnowhere

The Prague - Berlin (-Hamburg) service is run straight through now, no change of locomotives at Bad Schandau or Dresden as before

The problem now is not the locomotive but having the right safety equipment onboard, every country is different and ETCS is making it move complex

We are lucky here in Ireland, every train has WiFi, only country in Europe

Geuze

Yes, I recall several loco changes on Prague to Munich.

https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/munich-to-prague-by-train.htm

• Changes of direction and a chance to stretch your legs: Trains between Prague & Munich use a Czech electric locomotive between Prague & Plzen, an Alex diesel between Plzen & Schwandorf where the train changes direction, another Alex diesel between Schwandorf & Regensburg, where the train again changes direction, and an Alex electric locomotive between Regensburg & Munich. There's time to stretch your legs on the platform at both Plzen and Schwandorf if you like while the locomotive is changed.

Economics101

@goingnowhere: The problem now is not the locomotive but having the right safety equipment onboard, every country is different and ETCS is making it move complex

A common signalling/communications system is necessary for seamless rail travel within Europe. Hence ETCS. Sure, it may complicate matters during the installation/transition, but it's the only way to solving the problem in the long run.

suspiciousb

• There's time to stretch your legs on the platform at both Plzen and Schwandorf if you like while the locomotive is changed.

kc56

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121285186#Comment_121285186

That is the exact journey. Train was terminated at Schwandorf being 35mins behind schedule. Then regional train, diesel, to Regendburg and finally regional electric to Munich.

road_high

I’ve never managed to get Irish rail WiFi working to any acceptable standard. It was always so rubbish I just gave up. Unless it’s been upgraded in the past 3/4 years

kc56

A few days later I took a train from Munich to Florence via Bologna. The Munich-Bologna was run by OBB - Austria and ran precisely on time and real barista coffee was served from the trolley. The OBB loco was swapped for another OBB loco at Brenner Pass. Train from Bologna to Florence was a high speed 250km/h Italo that ran mostly in tunnels. Also ran precisely to time. Wifi was available on the Italo but it required registration and text confirmation.

munchkin_utd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121297472#Comment_121297472

Theres been an organisational change and the Prague-Munich train will now ALWAYS continue to Munich. It no longer joins with the Hof-Munich service which it rarely managed when there was stricter border control, so it will not terminate in Schwandorf any more, leaving a trainload of people semi stranded

The joining/ splitting/ loco change at Regensburg/Schwandorf/Pilsen nevertheless still happens 3 times as theres a change of direction in Regensburg and Schwandorf and the Regensburg-Pilsen line is non electrified, and theres mostly extra carraiges only going from Munich to Schwandorf. Theres an order for brand new carraiges to be delivered in 4 years but even after that there'll still be loco changes as it looks like that line wont be electrified for decades.

As for Munich-Italy trains, there are ÖBB locos in service that can travel in Germany/ Austria/ Italy but maybe on that date one wasnt used for whatever reason. Its due to get brand new RJ carraiges any week now, which normally come with a dedicated loco (like enterprise or Cork service in Ireland, but from what I gather with close integration between loco and carraiges) BUT some services to Milan might be added with the Frecciarossa high speed train as soon as next year. So to cut a long story short, you loco changes on the Brenner pass route are likely to become rarer if not extinct.

L1011

Did a minor rail trip in December, four trips - IC2 BER to Dresden, ICE-T Dresden to Leipzig, Regional from a Leipzig suburb back in ICE from Leipzig to BER, connecting at an outer suburban station

Every single trip was delayed. Missed the connection in Berlin and had to pay again for a S-Bahn because there was zero clarity on whether our tickets covered it (we were meant to get a different ICE service from there to BER)

Alun

Did a couple of trips back in August last year, Darmstadt to Dresden via Frankfurt and return from Magdeburg to Darmstadt via Hannover on the ICE. The first one was delayed so much en route due to works that they had to stop at a suburban station outside Dresden before they got to Dresden HBf and we had to get a taxi to the centre.

On the return journey, the first leg went OK but when we got on the next ICE in Hannover, the carriage we had our reservation in was closed off because the air conditioning wasn't working and ended up with dozens of others sitting on suitcases and the floor in the corridor. So that they could repair it, it terminated in Frankfurt and we then had to get a regional train to complete our journey. I didn't ask if our tickets covered it and would have got extremely angry if they'd disputed it as would the dozens of locals who were in the same situation.

The only thing I can't fault was the information provided to enable passengers to make their connections, I felt sorry for the train staff, they looked very stressed out and apologetic, as there was nothing they could do about the situation.