German (In)Efficiency.
The Germans may have a reputation for remarkable efficiency, but Dave and I are of the opinion that where the return train ride from Koln to Bonn is concerned, inefficiency is more the rule. We have taken this train trip three times now, and each time have encountered a different kind of delay.
The important backstory here is that there are several ways to get from Bonn to Koln via rail. The first, and perhaps most obvious way, is to take the local train that leaves from our U-Bahn station. The train makes about 20 stops along the way and never gets up much speed, but (in theory) connects to the Koln main station in about 45 minutes. The second way is to take one of the Regional Express trains that leaves from the Bonn Hauptbahnhof. These trains leave about 1-2 times per hour, make only about 3 stops between Bonn and Koln, and move much faster. The drawback is that the schedule is a bit irregular, and in order to reach the Hauptbahnhof we have to take the U-Bahn four stops into town, and then transfer to another train. The third way is to take the ICE, which goes directly (and very quickly) from Bonn to Koln; however, our student rail tickets don't cover ICE trips.
The first time we went to Koln, it was for the WorldCup semifinal and Germany had just lost. Understandably, the Germans were disappointed and the Italian fans were going crazy. We decided rather than taking the RE to the Bonn Hauptbahnhoft that we would try the U-Bahn, and even then the train was absolutely crammed with people. Every stop took several extra minutes as more people tried to slip onto the train, blocking the doors in the process. When the U-Bahn reached the surface, the traffic on the streets blocked the tracks and we had to stand still for about 20 minutes. This irritated us and we vowed to take the RE train the next time.
Last weekend, we took the RE train home. We boarded, took a seat, and the train slowly began to pull out of the station. Just beyond the platform, however, the train came to an abrupt halt and the driver made a vague comment about "a disturbance" on the tracks that kept us from moving ahead. He couldn't let us off the train because we were barely beyond the platform, but he couldn't reverse to let us off to catch a different train. We sat in place for over an hour as rider after rider knocked on the glass door to the front of the train, demanding to know why we couldn't move.
Then yesterday, we decided to try the U-Bahn route again, since it was 40 minutes to wait for an RE train and we figured it would still be faster to make multiple stops along the way than to wait for an RE train and make a connection. Things seemed to be moving along fine until we reached about the 10th stop and the driver made an announcement. To me, all this just sounded like "Blah Blah Blah get off Blah Blah Blah bus." Everyone stood up and got off the train, walked across the street, and onto a bus. Apparently they were working on the tracks for one section of the route, but there was a bus waiting for us and we figured everything would be smooth on the other side, too. We rode the bus for about 10 minutes, and then were dropped off at another U-Bahn stop where we boarded another train. This train sat on the tracks for 10 minutes, then slowly made 3 more stops before the driver asked us to get off the train again. He said another train would come in 5 minutes...and 40 minutes later, another train finally came.
Our goal next time...to make it back from Koln in less than 1 1/2 hours!
The Germans may have a reputation for remarkable efficiency, but Dave and I are of the opinion that where the return train ride from Koln to Bonn is concerned, inefficiency is more the rule. We have taken this train trip three times now, and each time have encountered a different kind of delay.
The important backstory here is that there are several ways to get from Bonn to Koln via rail. The first, and perhaps most obvious way, is to take the local train that leaves from our U-Bahn station. The train makes about 20 stops along the way and never gets up much speed, but (in theory) connects to the Koln main station in about 45 minutes. The second way is to take one of the Regional Express trains that leaves from the Bonn Hauptbahnhof. These trains leave about 1-2 times per hour, make only about 3 stops between Bonn and Koln, and move much faster. The drawback is that the schedule is a bit irregular, and in order to reach the Hauptbahnhof we have to take the U-Bahn four stops into town, and then transfer to another train. The third way is to take the ICE, which goes directly (and very quickly) from Bonn to Koln; however, our student rail tickets don't cover ICE trips.
The first time we went to Koln, it was for the WorldCup semifinal and Germany had just lost. Understandably, the Germans were disappointed and the Italian fans were going crazy. We decided rather than taking the RE to the Bonn Hauptbahnhoft that we would try the U-Bahn, and even then the train was absolutely crammed with people. Every stop took several extra minutes as more people tried to slip onto the train, blocking the doors in the process. When the U-Bahn reached the surface, the traffic on the streets blocked the tracks and we had to stand still for about 20 minutes. This irritated us and we vowed to take the RE train the next time.
Last weekend, we took the RE train home. We boarded, took a seat, and the train slowly began to pull out of the station. Just beyond the platform, however, the train came to an abrupt halt and the driver made a vague comment about "a disturbance" on the tracks that kept us from moving ahead. He couldn't let us off the train because we were barely beyond the platform, but he couldn't reverse to let us off to catch a different train. We sat in place for over an hour as rider after rider knocked on the glass door to the front of the train, demanding to know why we couldn't move.
Then yesterday, we decided to try the U-Bahn route again, since it was 40 minutes to wait for an RE train and we figured it would still be faster to make multiple stops along the way than to wait for an RE train and make a connection. Things seemed to be moving along fine until we reached about the 10th stop and the driver made an announcement. To me, all this just sounded like "Blah Blah Blah get off Blah Blah Blah bus." Everyone stood up and got off the train, walked across the street, and onto a bus. Apparently they were working on the tracks for one section of the route, but there was a bus waiting for us and we figured everything would be smooth on the other side, too. We rode the bus for about 10 minutes, and then were dropped off at another U-Bahn stop where we boarded another train. This train sat on the tracks for 10 minutes, then slowly made 3 more stops before the driver asked us to get off the train again. He said another train would come in 5 minutes...and 40 minutes later, another train finally came.
Our goal next time...to make it back from Koln in less than 1 1/2 hours!
posted by Erin at 1:59 PM
1 Comments:
What a nightmare!! Will they let you drink any of that good beer on the trains, like they do in Chicago? That would make the ride oh so much smoother.
We miss you and love "hearing" your stories!! Take care and cherish all the moments, even all the messy ones!
Rob, T and Payton
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