German Trains Aren't What They Used to Be

I'm with you on this post until you get to "yummy" -- that adjective doesn't go with German cuisine.

Made sure to have no significant events going on the few DB travel days for our upcoming trip. We’ll get there when we get there. Even planning on taking an earlier train to Salzburg that’s covered by my Deutschland ticket then the scheduled ticket Munich to Worthersee in Austria, so I don’t miss Salzburg connection.

We do our best to avoid travel on days with important (to us) events, no matter what country we are in. You never know when the Fates will decide to play.

All ICE trains have power outlets at all seats. I you really had trouble finding them you maybe did not know what to look for, or where to look for them.

I would also not build in extra time for transfers, as you can just hop on the next train if you miss one.

DB, for all its flaws, still does a lot of things better than SNCF and especially RENFE. SNCF is getting worse every day. Schedules are reduced, and they seem to be hell bent on introducing everything people do not like about air travel to train travel as well. RENFE is even further along that path, with trains even selling out regularly in that country.

And making people queue up to board a train is something that should be a hanging offence (just kidding, but it does upset me). You should not have to break your stride between the street and the train door.

when you were on the ICE did you look up by the curtain rail and the overhead light? They are often there.

On the ICE the sockets are normally low in between the seats. In general I like the ICE. Much nicer train than the TGV. Better food too.

When we were in Germany for Easter this year, both of our long train journeys were canceled - Frankfurt to Freiburg and Freiburg to Berlin. It wasn’t an issue to simply board another train, but our seat reservations didn’t transfer (or we didn’t know how to transfer them) and we needed to move seats a number of times as people boarded and departed. I never imagined the Italian train service would be more reliable than the German, but based upon my experiences (Italy last summer, Germany this spring), I’d give it up to Italy on this one.

Regarding the lack of power sockets on ICE train, I did look up where the seat lights were, and I also looked down between the seats. Then I walked the length of the train, looking to see how other passengers connected to the power sockets. There were many passengers using laptops and tablets, but no one was connected to power in any car.

There is a recent saying: "if you want German efficiency on DB trains, go to Switzerland."

My experience on German trains last year is that everyone of them was half hour to an hour late and may have moved the platform.

That said, in first class someone always asked what I wanted from the cafe car. They weren't exactly pleasant but I did get my meal.

My vegetarian curry Gemusecurry was actually not bad and of course I got sparkling water. It wasn't cheap but honestly, it was fine.

But if you have to be somewhere at a certain time, I always tell people to take a train the night before, because 9/10 times your train will be delayed significantly. Doesn't help when the government hasn't invested in the trains in 20 years.

There were many passengers using laptops and tablets, but no one was
connected to power in any car

Did you ask anybody? The way the power sockets are arranged you will not be able to spot it (or the cable going to it) when someone is sitting there. All German ICE and IC trains have power sockets.

The DB is still far superior to SNCF and RENFE, but I agree that Trenitalia does something better.

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