ICE: Couple drinks coffee – and has to get out because masks are mandatory

train journey
The couple drinks coffee on the train – and is thrown out of the ICE for violating the mask requirement

Allegedly, they only took off the mask to drink coffee from the on-board bistro. That was enough for a Deutsche Bahn conductor to throw a couple out of the ICE.

It’s a somewhat opaque story, which in times when the end of the mask requirement on buses and trains is being discussed, should provide fuel for both sides. On the morning of December 31, a couple was on the ICE train from Binz to Berlin. The journey ended unpleasantly: both were thrown off the train for violating the mask requirement.

Nikola K. told the “Tagesspiegel” that she sat alone in a compartment with her wife and that she actually didn’t wear any masks at first. A mistake that happens quickly, since there is now hardly a mask requirement anywhere and the two sat in what felt like a closed room.

When the conductor came, he asked the couple to put on the masks, which they immediately did. According to Nikola K., the man had already been “rude and aggressive” at this encounter. When she unpacked a sandwich to eat a little later, the conductor saw this through the window in the compartment door and demanded that the mask be put on again “with an evil look and gestures”. But the woman ate her bread first and only then followed the request.

In the ICE: the couple took off the mask to eat

After two hours of driving, a vendor came by with the coffee truck and offered drinks. The couple acquired two milk coffees. But when the women wanted to drink them, the conductor stormed into the compartment with a colleague and asked them to get off the train at the next stop. The ICE stopped a little later in Pasewalk. Nikola K. was completely confused and pointed out that she could not have drunk the coffee with a mask. When the argument didn’t help, she tried to apologize. Nevertheless, she and her wife had to get off the train in Pasewalk.

At the request of star Deutsche Bahn explains that “the legal obligation to wear an FFP2 mask” is one of the “official requirements for protection against infection” that the conductors on Deutsche Bahn long-distance trains would also implement. Passengers are allowed to remove their masks “for the consumption of food and drinks”. “During longer breaks in consumption” the mask must be put on again. However, Deutsche Bahn does not respond specifically to this case, even when asked.

Deutsche Bahn sees no fault in itself

Nikola K. and her wife had lodged a written complaint with the railways – but they saw no fault in themselves and pointed out that the conductor had previously pointed out to the women twice that masks were compulsory. He also did not act aggressively, but “factually”. After all, neither of them had to wait long for the next train to Berlin, just half an hour. And the following train brought them to their destination without any problems.

Sources: Deutsche Bahn, “Daily Mirror”