Anyone who travels with Deutsche Bahn knows that: “Due to delays in the operational process…” or “Due to a switch fault…” it doesn’t go any further. Deutsche Bahn wants to change that and inform you better.
The rail network in Germany is considered ailing. It is not for nothing that the federal government wants to invest billions in the rail network, which is owned by DB Netz AG, in the coming years. This is accompanied by numerous route closures over months. There is already information on these for the period up to 2030 . Deutsche Bahn has just officially published the information for the coming months . But often enough, in addition to these planned disruptions, there are unplanned events that throw train traffic into chaos. When the train announcements, which are then made in the S-Bahn, Regionalexpress or ICE, usually nobody listens or they are not understandable for train laypeople. Deutsche Bahn wants to address the problem now.
BAHN ANNOUNCEMENTS: BAHN-DEUTSCH SHOULD GO
As Der Spiegel documents in a video on YouTube , Deutsche Bahn is sending some of its train drivers and attendants to an announcements seminar. The goal: the Bahn-Deutsch should go away. The announcements on the train should be easier to understand. Hardly anyone is interested in the previously prefabricated and specified sentences. Or they are not understandable.
Can you imagine what is meant by “delays in the operational process”? It can be pretty much anything. The information leaves more question marks for you as a passenger – if you listen at all – than it helps you. However, if the train attendant tells you that your train cannot start yet because the planned engine driver is currently on another train that is running late, you at least know what the problem is. This also relieves the burden on the train staff, who are no longer the scapegoat for the delay. More personality and less Bahn-German – that is the goal.
The changes go back to an initiative by radio presenter and communication coach Steffen Popp. He wrote a letter to the railways in 2014 and complained about the announcements – combined with the offer to show the railways how to do things better. Since then, the announcements on the train have gradually changed. However: the old announcements are still deep in many train attendants and engine drivers after decades. They in particular then find it difficult to formulate freely and loosely. Incidentally, irony, sarcasm or a joke show is expressly not desired. Incidentally, some of the creative announcements are documented on the BahnAnsagen Twitter account .
