Erratic Deutsche Bahn services make our commutes a misery. Luckily, their meaningless announcements are an art form

My favourite excuse is an expression that might one day be emblematic of contemporary Germany. I hear Deutsche Bahn wants staff to stop using it, but it can’t banish it from our minds. Verzögerungen im Betriebsablauf – “operational delays” – is meaningful and meaningless in a way that only the German language allows. One day it might even become one of those golden words co-opted into the English language – like zeitgeist or schadenfreude. (Let’s retire Blitz, a word that is jaded and overused in sport, politics and beyond.)

Verzögerungen im Betriebsablauf is the magic phrase for not getting anywhere fast while also suggesting everything is full steam ahead. It is sinister in a beautiful way. It is a phrase Kafka might use if he were writing today, a perfect description of a situation where no one can do anything but everyone is busy.

  • JoBo@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    76
    ·
    1 year ago

    One theory goes that the decline began in the mid-90s, when the government started its efforts to make Deutsche Bahn fit for sale.

    Yep, that’ll do it.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah privatization in general doesn’t work great. The only good arguments I’ve heard for private ownership is the initial investment portion.

        • taladar@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          It does work alright in some fields but it definitely does not work for natural monopolies like infrastructure (rail network, power, gas, internet/phone networks, cable, water, waste water,…) or for things people can’t not choose to avoid buying (health care) or buy very infrequently (once or twice a life only).

      • trollercoaster@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        1 year ago

        And it was known to be stupid in the 1990s already. The only people who benefit from it are the investors. Everyone else pays for their dividend.

      • Melonpoly@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Japan seems to be one of the outliers were privatisation of their rail networks has worked out well.

      • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Is Deutsche Bahn in private hands? It sounds like the same mistake that Thatcher made in the UK
        Also why isnt competiton bringing the prices down?

        • zaphod@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          14
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          No, it’s not privatised, although currently organised as a joint-stock company (AG) with the state being the sole shareholder. But it was supposed to be privatised and made “profitable” starting in the 90s.

          • taladar@feddit.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            They didn’t control it very well though. DB AG did spend a lot of money on non-rail related expenses like the DB Schenker road freight division and also on investments in other countries. Apart from that they also have some sort of weird division between maintenance and rebuilding costs, the former DB AG needs to pay and the latter are often paid for by separate funds which gives a strong incentive not to perform maintenance.

      • Anekdoteles@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s not the privatisation per se. It is the privatisation accompanied by a lot of other circumstances bringing the worst of public and private businesses to the table. The main problem is that DB is a private company that is incentivised to let the infrastructure rot. The solution is actually pretty easy: split up the company, return infrastructure to public hand, and open up the operations to fair competition. Flixbus showed how competition absolutely decimates prices even in transport business.

    • interolivary@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s funny how privatization literally (literally literally) always makes services worse, but right-wingers always manage to believe the exact opposite