Is doubling Germany's rail traffic really the answer?

Germany's rail network is chronically unreliable. Surely doubling train traffic is only a good idea on paper?

Photo by Oliver Sand on Unsplash

Today I’m talking about Germany’s state rail company and wondering how on earth it can be trusted to cope with all the people who are supposed to give up their cars in the coming years.

There is a general consensus among the centre-left parties that trains are the future. Get people off the autobahn and onto the Bahn and Germany can fulfill its destiny as saviour of mother earth... or so the thinking goes.

The Greens want to invest so heavily in rail infrastructure that domestic flights will soon be made redundant. (They’re careful to say that trains will replace flights and not that flights will be banned. The word Verbot, which conservatives use to beat them with every election season, is strengst verboten on the campaign trail.)

The SPD promise to build “the most modern and climate-friendly transport network in Europe” by the end of the decade. They plan heavy investment in electrifying regional trains and bringing back Nachtzüge that connect Germany to…