Rhine Valley, and German trains in general

I was in Germany around the same time and had some terrible experiences such as cancelled and delayed trains getting me to my destination at 2 am instead of the scheduled 5pm the day before. Almost every train was late, and sometimes I had to take a replacement bus to the next town due to a line being completely closed (Nordlingen) for several days of construction. Sometimes a train would just stop and sit on the track for an hour or more. Several people told me the Swiss are stopping German trains at the border if they are more than a few minutes late as it screws up the Swiss rail system. I thought it might be an urban myth but I looked it up and found several news stories confirming it.

Almost all were late, once had to get off a train and wait for another due to a breakdown. ICE were slightly better than the regional trains.

Just as info for readers: normally regional trains have a significant higher punctuality ratio (appr. 90%) than long-distance trains (appr. 63%).

Oh dear. We were in Germany October 1 - 16, including Oct. 10 - 15 on the Rhein. Maybe I am just lucky, but all the trains we took were on time, with the exception of a couple of short delays, 10 minutes or so. Yes, trains along the the Rhein were fuller than expected. There is a train literally every two minutes along the Rhein; it's an important artery. Things could happen.

I know a lot of people complain about Deutsche Bahn, but at least they've got trains to complain about.

At 90%, punctuality on regional trains in Germany is much better than on the IC/ICE/EC equipment, but that doesn't mean all regional routes achieve 90% on-time performance. Perhaps the Rhine route is much worse than others. Or perhaps it's not, and we just hear more much more on this forum about tardiness and overcrowding there because more of us choose to go there. Who knows?

One thing is for sure: overall, the regional trains now are doing much worse than in the pre-covid years. In 2016, 95% of the regional trains ran on time. But a score of 90% means late trains have doubled, going from 5% of the journeys in 2016 to 10% of the journeys this year. And for September 2024 the most recent performance score was even lower... 89.2%.

I suspect the downhill trend has a lot to do not only with track maintenance but also with the popularity of the Deutschland-Ticket, priced first at €9/mo., then at €49/mo. Both prices are insanely low for unlimited use of the entire system of trains, buses, trams and subways; back in the day, locals bought month-long subscriptions within very small transport areas which cost 3-4 times that amount. Now that transport is almost free of charge, it's inevitable that ridership goes way up and trips multiply and lengthen, which places a much larger burden on the rail infrastructure. I would not expect the current problems to dissipate anytime soon.

We were lucky to get standing room. And then a few of the wagons were dropped and we had to crowd on to the already standing room only remaining wagons.

Now this has gotten me a bit nervous. The trip I"m planning down the rhine is completely dependent onme being able to take the trains. I"m coming in from cologne to Koblenz. Given its the first stop, I don't anticipate too many issues getting on with a suitcase (at least I'm hoping). But subsequent to Koblenz, I'm pretty much using it as a hop on hop off vehicle, to explore the towns in between Koblenz and Bingen, also on the west side of the river and the mosel. Would I have problems getting on even for a few stops? Is there a period of the day where the trains are less crowded?

Could you also explain please what you mean by a few wagons were dropped? Were people on the train mostly tourists or were there locals as well?

Yes, trains along the the Rhein were fuller than expected. There is a train literally every two minutes along the Rhein; it's an important artery.

If it was this frequent, is overcrowding still an issue? Even if you miss the first one because you can't get on, there is one a few mins later?

"...subsequent to Koblenz, I'm pretty much using it as a hop on hop off vehicle...."

What you read about trains every two minutes is a gross exaggeraton. The west-bank Rhine towns have scheduled service roughly every half hour or roughly every hour (some smaller towns are served only by RB trains, while the others are served by staggered RE and RB trains that both make stops at those towns within an hour's time.) The DB online schedule and app will show them all.

Since you will be hopping off and on, you won't have a serious problem if overcrowding continues. You will get on the train, but you may need to stand... probably just for 10-20 minutes though since the towns are so close to one another.

The regional trains in Germany are incorporated into the local transport system along with buses, subways, etc. Seats are not sold with tickets, only passage. Passengers frequently stand, as you might on a public bus back home, or sit in auxiliary fold-down chairs in the vestibule or in the bike car. Sometimes they sit on the steps to the upper level of double-decker trains. The cheapo D-Ticket has definitely resulted in additional use of the trains and overcrowding. There aren't enough train cars to accommodate the new ridership, so one route might get shorted in favor of a different route that is even busier, so train cars get transferred sometimes.

It's impossible to know whether increased delays and overcrowding will subside for your May trip. Note that commuter hours are often the busiest.

Ah okay, thank you for clarifying Russ. I also read in another post that ferries are infrequent and to take the train instead. But the train is already infrequent if it runs once every hour (at least the RB26 train). Curious how regular the ferries are along the rhine, once every 2 hours?

Is it correct to say that RB26 serves the east bank and RB10 serves the right? Complemented by RE2, RE17 and RE26 which has limited stops on the east bank. There are no RE trains serving the west?

Note that commuter hours are often the busiest.

What are the commuter hours?

Ferries: see your other thread.

Is it correct to say that RB26 serves the east bank and RB10 serves the right?

The EAST bank is the same bank as the "RIGHT" bank.
The WEST bank is referred to as the "LEFT" bank.

There is just one railway on each bank. Between Koblenz and Bingen/Rüdesheim, the west bank has enhanced service over the east bank.

The map that follows, which was created for Boppard's Guest Ticket holders, shows all the places you can travel with the Guest ticket. South of Koblenz there are three RE/RB numbers on the west-bank railway and use 3 different colors to represent them. Stations that are represented by only a small box have only RB (hourly) service. The larger/longer boxes that cross all three colored lines have more frequent service.

The east-bank railway, as you can see, has only one number/color for its RB-only service. Hourly service, in other words.

https://www.vrminfo.de/fileadmin/data_vrminfo/PDF/Gaesteticket/Infoflyer/Flyer_GT_englisch.pdf

Commuter hours refers to those hours when workers use the trains to commute to/from work. Things get busy in the early morning and late afternoon, just like at home.

We visited Bavaria this summer and had two days prior to our river cruise on the Danube.
We purchased a regional pass which was very cheap. However, the regional trains were very crowded and we had to stand most of our time on the trains.

Also, we had two trains cancelled and almost missed our meeting with the cruise line company for transport from the Munich Airport to Regensburg.

We lived in Germany from 87 until 91 and took the trains back them. It was RARE when trains were late and we NEVER had one cancelled. Also, trains were less crowded back then. Sad this has happened.

So what is the root cause of the continuing problems? Lack of workers? Crumbling infrastructure? Tight budgets? Heavy use?

The EAST bank is the same bank as the "RIGHT" bank.
The WEST bank is referred to as the "LEFT" bank.

Ok thanks noted.

Honestly, I think comparing anything today to how it was 35 year ago is a bit odd. The country is constantly in flux, the wall came down, the Cold War ended, the internet happened, as did Covid, the population increased a lot, we took in over a million refugees as well as all the other immigrants and expats that move here year after year, and now there are those super cheap train tickets. It is like comparing flying to Europe back in the old days when everyone dressed up and only wealthy people could come here for their 2 weeks vacation to sitting in Economy today for your trans-Atlantic flight. Every city is completely different to how they used to be. They are all in flux and changing. So are the trains. There is over 40,000 km of track that has to be kept up, especially for those trains that run 280km per hour or more. Add in the bridges and tunnels and stations that are often old and there is simply too much to do.

@stan: How that came to be is a long story of gradual decline due, mostly due to insufficient funds. Brief recall: Until the late nineties, DB was run by the state. Then several governments of different sides of the spectrum privatised it, but somehow it is still 100% owned by the state. And now they combine the worst of both worlds: Since it is a private company, the state no longer is responsible for maintenance and service, and the state decided that they should not support a private company with public funds (finance ministers really liked this idea). At the same time, since the state is the owner of the company and wants people to have sufficient and reasonably priced access to trains, they dictate to a very large degree what a ticket can cost. So DB has not have had sufficient funds in the last 25 years at least, and this increasingly starts to show - although recent decisions by the government have at least somewhat tackled this issue (though not sufficiently, if you ask DB, and only time will tell the truth).

"...back in the old days when everyone dressed up and only wealthy people could come here for their 2 weeks vacation..."

Well, Maybe 85+ year-olds remember that short era, the Orient Express extravagance, etc., but I don't - that was 60 or more years ago. What I remember... 51 years ago, after putting in some heavy summer-job grunt-hours, this average kid was sitting in Economy on a mostly-full 747 with mostly average folks on his first trip to Europe. (This was the same year that Rick Steves, another average middle-class kid about my age, took his first solo trip to Europe, looking a lot like me and other average kids who were doing the same thing - backpacking Europe.) Germany's engineering prowess at the time was the world's envy. In the Germany I remember, the somewhat spartan 2nd-class trains were quite dependable and DID run on time. Last-minute announcements that canceled or rescheduled trains were highly unusual. I bought a Kursbuch (book of timetables) which I think was valid for 6-months, a 2-month youth Eurail pass ($160 at the time?) and I got around just as the Kursbuch promised.

So I too feel disappointment in the decline of the rail system. But it's just the basic dependable transportation that I miss - not the luxurious rail travel of some bygone era I never saw.

Population (83 million) increases don't explain everything (heck, even back in post-war 1950, Germany had 71 million.) Locals always point to "deferred maintenance" so I suspect they are correct; with the combination of a) inadequate system and equipment maintenance and b) insufficient infrastructure planning for the increased ridership of the "Deutschland-Ticket" movement, officials have likely overburdened the system in a major way. It's just not like the Germany I remember to allow this situation to occur.

Well then, never mind.
Sorry if we have different memories and different opinions on why things are the way they are.

In 1971 the 2nd class two month Youth Eurail Student Pass sold for the price of $125. I still have that. I rode that Pass into the ground in the 12 week summer trip of 1971 , including a 22 hour night train into North Sweden.