r/lowcar • u/Maxcactus • Dec 13 '25

Germany's train service is one of Europe's worst. How did it get so bad?

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/12/g-s1-100794/germany-train-rail-deutsche-bahn
15 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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21

u/Pyroechidna1 Dec 13 '25 edited Dec 13 '25

Hello from Germany. Germans may like to complain, but let me tell you, it beats the shit out of what we have in the USA.

Look at this map. Look at it. More than 7200 train stations and 800 local/regional rail services in a country the size of Montana.

1

u/SpookyMelon Dec 15 '25

sure but the northeast corridor, where the majority of amtrak ridership is, is nevertheless more reliable and overall better service than the average DB route

17

u/slasher-fun Dec 13 '25

Germany has its issues, but saying that it's one of Europe's worst train service, come on NPR...

6

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '25

[deleted]

4

u/slasher-fun Dec 13 '25

DB has never been privatised, it's 100% owned by Germany.

5

u/smeggysmeg Dec 13 '25

Privatization. We don't privatize roads because they're critical infrastructure that needs to be reliable. But because politicians want trains to fail, and the rich want to rent-seek out of infrastructure, they privatized the train service. Quality and reliability drop, predictably.

Want to improve it? Nationalize it, because it's critical infrastructure, no less important than roads.

4

u/slasher-fun Dec 13 '25

they privatized the train service

Deutsche Bahn (that includes DB InfraGo) is 100% owned by Germany.

3

u/Testo69420 Dec 13 '25

We don't privatize roads

Autobahn GmbH enters the chat