Unfortunately Deutsche Bahn don't stop just because pibbur want's to get off a train. He could of course have started behaving really badly, and thus getting thrown off the train, but there are repercussions against things like that, and actually, pibbur wouldn't know how to do it (the mere fact that he didn't think of this option until now says a lot). And since this was a fast train, it didn't stop on it's own until nearly 30 minutes had passed. Further, the train going back to Köln was a slow train which stopped and stopped and…
Poor Pibbur ! If I had known of this, I could have warned you …
And yes, the Deutsche Bahgn is a place of morons and lunatics. And too much cost-saving as well.
In the press there were a few incidents like this : The ICE train (our fastest and highest-class train) just didn't stop at Wolfsburg (where the headquarters of Volkswagen are) - TWO TIMES ! Within a few months !
The local newspaper of Cologne here is currently overflowing with letters to the editor stating incredible horror stories - like trains "stranding" in the middle of nowhere, no emplyee to be seen, no idea where to go further on …
But not stopping in Cologne is new to me, to be frank. Can you geve me please the exact train number & time ? I might write a letter to the editor stating your case as well …
The slow train you have used afterwards might have been an "S-Train" ("S-Bahn"), with "S" presumbly standing for "schnell" = "speedy". This is the fastest train we have on the lowerst level of trains.
But - in fact, since the even slower trains of earlier times have dies out, the S-Bahn is also the slowest train here. What Irony !
Slower are only trains deep in the countryside.
The situation with the Deutsche Bahn is actually at the lowest point in its history. Within the whole country, people are angry. I just don't understand why I have had so much luck with the trains so far. But even my father has told me stories … He works by Berlin and is going home into the Rheinland via train every Friday, and back every Sunday … He has had his own share of these stories as well …
And here is why : One part of the problem is that the ICE trains
always have the highest priority ! - All other trains must wait for them.
And now let's imagine such an ICE is late because of children playing on the railways (yes ! This happens !) or because of someone jumping down a bridge just before a train is there (yes, this sadly happens as well - in December a whole railway stzation in my own town was closed because of such an incident) - the ICE is late, out of shedule, but STILL all of the other trains MUST wait … At least for a certain time.
One example from the press (letters to the editors) was that of an older couple which … had certain problems with trains. They wanted to go to Hamburg. And the last sentence of their printed letter to the editors was : "And in Hamburg the last bus was gone". Sad.
One of the problem lies within the fact that the Deutsche Bahn wanted to go to the stock market(s) within the last decade.
What they did, was axing EVERYTHING that proved to be losses. And that means ESPECIALLY ALL local railways ! (We have two sorts of railways here : "long-range" and "short-range" aka "local".) So many local railways have been … not only closed down, but the metal rails were transported away, too … - Losses. Axed.
Okay, in the recent years private railway companies have begun erecting new railways for local services again - people in the province just rely on either cars of trains.
And the local trains between the town centres are often overcrowded. "The Sardines Effect" - Meant are sardines stuffed into tins.
But the Deutsche Bahn destroyed so much - and in the meantime, they built up a highly profitable business for/with the ICE ! - The ICE is nowadays the main "cash cow" for the Deutsche Bahn. It means luxury, it means fast travelling, it means high prices. And ALL of the low-cost products have been destroyed - with a few exceptions (S-Bahn, Regional-Bahn (RE) … I think that's it).
And this cost-reduction has led to this desaster. People openly call it "the Deutsche Bahn has been … "bedgeted into oblivion", that's a translation someone at dict.leo.org proposes. The literal translation would be "saved kaputt" or "saved until it broke".
Which means that the savings / cost-reduction means were so heavy that the whole railway system is not healthy anymopre. Too few workers, for example, and those must work too much, so they become much more often ill, which enganders the whole railway system again because there are too few workers … When I was reading the novel "Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett, and he was describing the "clacks business", I had to think of the Deutsche Bahn.
The main driver behind the "Deutsche Bahn going to the stock market(s)", Mr. Mehdorn, is now working for another company. He had been "pressed" to give up his position because of the oh-so-many and sometimes outright unbelievable issues with the DEutsche Bahn (in 2 cases, youngsters who had bought the wrong ticket had to get out of the train deep within some wilderness !!! ), but he was clinging so much to his seat as if he had glued himself to it. When he finally went, it was a great relief everywhere. Because everyone knew - or had anticipated - that he was the force behind the destructive cost reduction scheme.
And of course : When the Deutsche Bahn had really gone to the stock market(s), he would have gained LOTS of bonus payments ! But that was revealed only after he had gone. Which made me even more angry. Since then I believe that the desastrous situation in which the Deutsche Bahn is right now is the result of a man giving in his greed, to put it cynically.
Travelling with Deutsche Bahn has become a lottery. Mostly, it goes well. But if it isn't … Oh, well … Good if you have friends or a Plan B or a Plan C or a Plan D …