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13 hour train journey: Lets Dance star describes horror journey home
Gabriel Kelly reports on his 13-hour return journey from Hamburg to Greifswald by train, caused by train cancellations and rail replacement services.
13 hour train journey: Lets Dance star describes horror journey home
Gabriel Kelly, known from the show “Let’s Dance”, recently took a trip home from Hamburg to Greifswald, which he described as a real horror trip. Instead of the usual two and a half hours, his journey took a whopping 13 hours. The reason? Train cancellations and a replacement rail service that really messed up his plans. Kelly took off at 12 p.m. and didn't land at his destination until 1 a.m. “It's not tasty,” he said about the long travel times and the insufficient accessibility of the Baltic Sea, which often leaves something to be desired, especially in summer. Additional trains on public holidays or long weekends are in short supply, which he also experienced with the problems on the RE5 and RE1 lines, where passengers were left on the platform due to overcrowded trains.
Regular problems on the track
The current real travel experience is symptomatic of the situation in German rail transport. Current reports about construction sites and delays show that traveling is unpredictable, and not just on public holidays. Information about this can be accessed via the DB timetable. There are also repeated indications of disruptions at train stations via loudspeaker announcements and on digital displays.
The state of the German railway infrastructure, as pointed out by political voices such as Jutta Wegner, transport policy spokeswoman for the Green Party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, is worrying. She criticizes the state government for its insufficient capacity to maintain a proper timetable. And the numbers speak for themselves: According to Tagesschau, the number of canceled long-distance trains has quadrupled within five years. The proportion of canceled journeys in 2024 in long-distance transport is already 4%, and in regional transport it is even 5%.
An inefficient response to increasing demand
The problems are likely to be compounded by dilapidated infrastructure and poor train maintenance, which led to more than 13,600 canceled journeys last year. Over 60% of these failures were based on external causes such as labor disputes, a large part of which was due to a collective bargaining dispute with the German Locomotive Drivers' Union (GDL) in January 2024.
It therefore remains to be seen in the coming months whether and when a real improvement in rail traffic will be noticeable. A good knack for solutions on the part of those responsible is urgently needed in order to get the increasing travel inconveniences under control.