It’s not just travelers who are annoyed by the chaos on the railways. Staff are also struggling with delays and cancellations. The head of Lower Saxony’s largest railway workers’ union is hitting the table.
The Lower Saxony regional chairman of the Railway and Transport Union (EVG) has sharply criticized politicians and Deutsche Bahn. “Railway workers are only getting a beating,” Torsten Rathsmann told the dpa in Hanover, adding: “From politicians who no longer have any faith in the railways, from managers who have no guts, and from society, which is dissatisfied with the delays.”
Nevertheless, every morning thousands of railway workers stand at the train and greet their guests. “This cannot be praised highly enough,” said Rathsmann. Many train attendants are afraid because they do not know when they will get home due to the many delays. “They can no longer plan private appointments.”
Around one in three long-distance trains operated by Deutsche Bahn were late last year. The train staff are feeling the frustration. “We are all working to the limit and are constantly being put under pressure,” criticised Rathsmann.
What Deutsche Bahn says about the allegations
“Our employees deserve our full respect for what they do every day,” said a railway spokesman. The tension in the company is great and has become even more severe this year. The poor condition of the infrastructure, the many unplanned disruptions and construction sites have thrown ongoing operations and the timetable out of step.
“This is not only an imposition on our passengers, but also on our colleagues in operations and behind the scenes.” The railway is therefore addressing structural causes: it is concentrating on the renovation of the outdated infrastructure as well as on operational quality and the financial situation.
Source: Stern
