www.deutschebahn.com/de/presse/pr...

I had about 5 minutes to explore earlier this year whilst my poor kids waited for me. We nearly missed the train, it takes a long time to get down to that bottom level with suitcases 🥴

I don't want to minimise the problem but just say that a message and a reputation is a sum of many parts. You can't measure on a single event. Who's someone going to ask when they want information, the person who's been solidly reliable for a long time or the person who sporadically posts nonsense?

Here is part of the response I received from VRR after enquiring about the situation:

I think I hadn't paid for a train ticket at that point though.

You're kind of reliving my nightmare from last January. On the bus I paid, the other guy asked if he could take it instead of the train and was shrugged through. Such a mess up there the whole thing, but I guess if you're a local you figure it out and get on with it...

Ah I see - it only runs to Marseilles, and that's probably the long way round.

Isn't there an Intercity version at the moment that is habitually late?

Refreshments involve a coffee machine and a vending machine. What I like though, is that there's a little seating area beside the machines. Nice touch. And the coffee isn't bad at all. It all feels a bit nicer than a regional train but substandard compared to an ICE.

There was a bit of confusion onboard from people hoping to use their Deutschlandticket. You can use it, but only as a discount. The announcements on board were intense about no other tickets being accepted, not even if you've missed another train.

If there's one thing we have down that way, it's plenty of DMUs! Perhaps by then Wasserburg will finally be electrified and we'll have a few spare.

Nice smooth journey, arriving into Frankfurt early. The train is wide and roomy, the internet worked well. It's not a revolution but a very useful train for people to board easily and if you need diesel instead of electric traction.

I admit, I'm a little excited

@tobiaswatzl.bsky.social The train numbers are EC 141/144/147/148, e.g. www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak....

Seems to be entirely locomotive-hauled MAV material & extn. of existing trains (e.g. www.bahn.de/buchung/star...) but all have a note for Beograd/Budapest: cancelled until further notice.

Excitement!

However, my son decided last minute to switch to the 1889 "Fenster" auf carriage...

Probably my favourite computer of all time. In primary school we had real ones, in secondary school a converter box so we could access electronics on PCs like with a BBC. We used a BBC for a university project (early 2000s!)