Train Travel and the Decline of German Precision (August 26, 2025)
I never thought the day would come when “German Precision” would become satire when referring to their train system. Granted, it was more than thirty years ago when I last had my Eurail pass and backpacking through Europe. At that time, you could literally set your watch to German train time. The precision was something of artistic beauty and you could be confident on your departure and arrival times anywhere a German train travelled.
My have the times changed.
In full transparency, I refunded my Eurail pass when I learned that traveling to the majority of the places it was not only faster, but significantly cheaper to fly. I don’t mean by a little bit — usually by 50% or more. Given 11 hours by train or 90 minutes by flight at half the cost, there’s no reason to use the train system. It’s sad really. I know trains are better for the environment, but that takes you only so far. I also value my time and my own economic prosperity.
And now I can add confidence and certainty to the growing list of reasons to fly vs. take the train. On Tuesday, August 26th, Stefan Wurzer got up and met me at 6:15am to travel with me to catch my 7:28 train out of Vienna, Austria to Manheim, Germany. The first train in Austria was exactly as described. Then, in Salberg, I changed to a German train and the delays began. At first, it was just 15 minutes … then 30 …. then 45 … then when we got to Munich, the train was just straight up cancelled.
Final goodbye on a Subway with Stefan in Austria before my train adventures
I won’t bore you with the details, but I was eventually able to get onto another train “headed in a similar direction” according to my new train friends who spoke fluent English. Thank GOD for them so that they could tell me about the cancellation and suggest an alternative.
What should have taken 8 hours (including changing trains) took 10 hours as well as a few sprints through the train stations and jumping onto a train that I had no idea if it was the correct one going to my ultimate destination. I made it, yes, but all things considered, I was probably better off flying (although my German friends tell me the nearby Frankfurt airport has similar delay and cancellation problems to be aware of).
Yay, travel! This is the “adventure” part. If everything went exactly according to plan, what would be the fun and excitement in that? No, you want your trains to be cancelled. This gets your heart racing and your legs moving as you scramble to the next one leaving in 3-5 minutes only two tracks away, but you need to go underground in order to access that line. Don’s speak the language? Even better! Good luck following all the signs in German with minutes to spare. Now THAT’s what I call adventure! ;-)
Okay, Ryan Air, I accept your lame policy of charging me to put a “carry on” bag above my head on my next flight — just promise me you won’t cancel the flight itself and that you’ll keep your rates about 50% or less than the cost to travel to the same destination by train. I’ll deal with my own carbon emissions and my guilt for all this convenience and economic savings separately.
