@jon When I was changing trains on Frankfurt Hbf last year (ICE Intl from Amsterdam Centraal and then the ICE to Basel Bad), I was talking with a German guy on my journey exploring some EU trains to contrast what we have here in Spain and learn some of the aspects which we can improve, specially on commuter and regional trains.
On that small talk, he said "the trains here are bad" but instantly I replied that they have a really good railway system and Spain is way worse and really unreliable. Surprised, he said to me: "Worse?!".
To be honest, my experience on Germany railways exceeded notoriously my expectations and on long-distance journeys, which I had with the Velaro D (407), ICE 3neo and ICE 4, are impressively good. It has problems? Yes, but they offer more alternative routing, thanks to their "grid" arrangement, and they report fast the problems with certain details, which contrasts what Renfe and Adif does (really vague explanation and late, usually 15-30 min minimum, or directly not telling anything).
amrtf 🏳️⚧️
@amrtf@net.amr.tf