In the Swabian Bermuda track triangle between Ulm, Donauwörth and Augsburg, trains often disappear that you never think you will see again, but then suddenly appear on a different track than intended. This was particularly unfortunate at Augsburg main station, but they have had elevators and escalators for passengers there for a few days. The first time since 1846. Platform six, platform eight, platform hopping will be much more comfortable in the future.
The blue trains with the full-blown aversion to snow and ice, which sometimes don’t show up at all, often show up late and very rarely show up on time, belong to Go Ahead. They are new, modernly equipped, comfortable and look good. Nevertheless, some passengers have secretly wanted Deutsche Bahn’s old Fugger Express back. It rarely drove when it was announced, but in retrospect the memory fades.
Perhaps so that no one forgets how dramatic the situation is at Deutsche Bahn, the management of Go Ahead has now made an unusual move: the blame for the whole mess and the blue trains that can sometimes not be found by passengers is largely to blame It assures Go Ahead, the company DB Netz, which is responsible for maintenance and construction work on the tracks.
That sounds like a diversionary tactic, but the railway company has good arguments. Go Ahead accuses DB Netz of “months of uncoordinated patchwork”, saying that there have been 120 construction projects in the Augsburg network for a year and that they have only been able to run on the regular timetable for two months. Since July, DB Netz has informed two thirds of the construction sites too late, meaning that passengers cannot even be informed in time about forced changes to timetables.
“The passengers are angry – and rightly so,” complains Fabian Amini, managing director of Go-Ahead. Between Augsburg and Donauwörth, the railway has just extended a construction project that was supposed to last three and a half weeks by six and a half weeks into January – and apparently couldn’t even announce this a few days before the extension. Go Ahead, which is currently being taken over by the Austrian Federal Railways, is now demanding penance: a public apology from DB Netz.