The Federal Transport Minister, Patrick Schnieder (CDU), has charged Deutsche Bahn with ensuring reliability during the upcoming holiday travel season. Speaking to the “Rheinische Post”, Schnieder stated, “I cannot guarantee anything, but I trust the railway’s assurances.” He noted that the company has promised to minimize disruptions caused by construction sites and plans to expand its services to holiday destinations during the summer months. However, he also acknowledged that the necessary overhaul of the infrastructure means that some restrictions are unavoidable.
The Minister stressed that the multi-billion euro modernization of the infrastructure naturally involves construction and puts pressure on travelers. Despite this, he expressed optimism, stating that “The railway has worked on its summer-related problems and learned from the occurrences of previous years.” He pointed out that mobile teams are now ready to rapidly fix issues, such as broken air conditioning units. Nevertheless, given the possibility of extreme heat, it cannot be excluded that infrastructure, such as switches, could also fail.
When questioned about a recent radio failure on the railway, Schnieder characterized it as an isolated incident of minor severity. He said the railway responded appropriately overall, though he admitted there were communication problems. He conceded that a damaged control element could indeed paralyze entire rail traffic for several hours, stating, “You are completely right. Something like that must not happen-especially not with such consequences.”
Schnieder expects Deutsche Bahn to increase its redundancies-meaning safety reserves that can take immediate effect instead of waiting 90 minutes in a crisis. Concerning the radio system, he explained that the entire system is being upgraded to a new technical level. This modernization project involves installing an additional 11,000 masts across Germany’s 33,000-kilometer railway network and implementing the 5G standard. Until these improvements are completed, the current system must function reliably.
