After 28 years
“End of an era”: Deutsche Bahn sends mascots into retirement
He was still on duty: Max Maulwurf (together with Bahn boss Richard Lutz) after the completion of the renovation work at Berlin-Ostkreuz station in December 2018.
© Gregor Fischer / DPA / Picture Alliance
It should sell positively, no matter how annoying construction sites, but now it’s over after almost three decades: Deutsche Bahn is retiring its construction site mascot Max Mole.
Moles usually have a life expectancy of around three years, so Deutsche Bahn’s construction site mascot has lasted an impressively long time. But now it’s over for Max Maulwurf: he’s retiring after 28 years.
Since 1994, the figure has been printed millions of times on posters and flyers, online and even as a human-sized costume, pointing the way to construction sites in the rail network or at train stations – often with tongue-in-cheek slogans and puns (“You will be absolutely delighted with the new station lighting.”).
Deutsche Bahn is retiring Max Mole
Now Max Maulwurf is to be removed from communication with passengers and residents without replacement, like him star learned from the headquarters of Deutsche Bahn in Berlin. There is talk of the “end of an era”. “For almost 30 years he stood by the travelers with a shovel, hard hat and megaphone – now the construction ambassador Max Maulwurf is moving to the DB Museum in Nuremberg,” said a railway spokeswoman.
Max Maulwurf would still have enough to do, because there will still be many construction sites and timetable changes on the railways in the future: According to the company, it wants to invest a total of 170 billion euros in its rail network in this decade. This year alone, there are a number of major construction sites on the agenda, for example at Frankfurt Central Station or on the high-speed line from Hanover to Würzburg (You can find an overview here).
In the future, travelers will be informed of the work on tracks and stations with much more sober posters or flyers – and with “positive wording”, as it is said. “The new way of providing information about upcoming construction sites creates a positive mindset among travelers,” said the spokeswoman, referring to market research carried out by the state-owned company. The new design and the future approach are “more modern” than the previous Max Mole media.
In the future, Deutsche Bahn wants to use this design to inform its customers about construction work
© Deutsch Bahn AG / PR
The figure was developed in the days of the Deutsche Bundesbahn. After the founding of Deutsche Bahn AG, it was then used for the first time in Berlin in 1994, and later it pointed to construction projects nationwide. Max Maulwurf should sell bad news like construction-related timetable deviations or rail replacement services.
Max Mole products in the Bahn Shop
The mascot was initially drawn by the Wuppertal artist Wolf Erlbruch, who also illustrated the well-known children’s book “The Little Mole Who Wanted to Know Who Kicked His Head”. Later, the Stuttgart illustrator Fritz Reuter took over the task.
However, fans (and sufferers) of the Mole don’t have to do without the mascot completely: on the one hand – and experience has shown that – he will be seen for a long time to come at those construction sites that are behind schedule, and on the other hand there is Max Mole in the train shop Also for at home: as a key ring, coffee mug or puzzle – while stocks last.
Also read: “Max Mole is becoming the poet of Deutsche Bahn”