Status: 07.06.2022 2:55 p.m
Many Lower Saxony used the nine-euro ticket for a short trip over the long Pentecost weekend. This resulted in overcrowded trains and angry travelers on some routes.
The rush at Hanover Central Station was particularly large. The Erixx railway company runs from here to the Harz Mountains, and the Metronom trains head for Hamburg. These routes were very popular with travelers for an excursion – as were those towards the North Sea. The departures were delayed by up to half an hour because so many people wanted to ride, said the spokeswoman for the Metronom railway company, Miriam Fehsenfeld. In some cases, railway staff even had to ask travelers to get off and take the next train. The Pentecost weekend was an “extreme situation” for everyone, according to Fehsenfeld.
Trouble because of the ban on taking bicycles to the Wendland
Especially on the route to Lüneburg, the ban on bicycles in the metronome led to problems. Because in Wendland the cultural outing took place with many offers for cyclists. Some passengers then became abusive towards the train attendants, said Fehsenfeld. The railway company had already recommended in advance not to take bicycles on the Metronom, Enno and Erixx routes and, if possible, to rent bicycles at the destination. Fehsenfeld justified the fact that additional wagons were not simply attached to the trains by saying that the platforms were too short for this.
Passenger Association Pro Bahn speaks of a success story
The railway system did not collapse at Pentecost, according to Dirk Artwig from the regional transport company. But no one wants to travel like that, he said. He therefore calls on the federal government to invest money in the expansion of routes and stations. Gerd Aschoff from the Pro Bahn Südniedersachsen passenger association speaks of a success story after the first weekend with the nine-euro ticket. Although there were some overcrowded trains, there were also many very relaxed train journeys. For the future, the passenger association is calling for the abolition of small tariff limits so that everything that is now possible with the nine-euro ticket will also be possible in the future. Because, as Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) recently said, people don’t live in tariff zones, they just want to get from A to B.
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