After three wonderful days of skiing with Barbara on the Kanzelwand (Kiezlern, Kleinwalsertal), we got up at 7 a.m. this morning. As predicted both by the weather forecast and our innkeeper, it had snowed. The Renault is covered with ten centimetres of freshly fallen snow. We enjoy a leisurely breakfast, then Barbara takes me to the railway station at Oberstdorf. Because I want to go to the RISE meeting in Zürich.
I want to take the ALX 39555 train from Oberstdorf to Immenstadt at 8.05 a.m. It is a very short distance – about 30 minutes. The display panel says: train has been cancelled. So we drive to Immenstadt – there is very little traffic, no significant obstacles, just a little snow on the streets.
From there, I want to take the ALX 38702 to Lindau at 8.43 a.m. It is another short distance – approximately 55 minutes. The display panel says: train will be delayed by about 60 minutes. So we take the car to get to Lindau, as well. Not a problem. We have to take a small pass. Even though there has been no winter service, we manage to cross it just fine. There is not really all that much snow to be seen anywhere.
From Lindau, I wish to go on to Zürich on the EC 196 at 9.54 hours. That leg will take a little longer, around one hour and 50 minutes. The display panel says: train will be delayed by about 60 minutes.
Barbara drives the Renault back to Munich. I stay in Lindau and wait for the train. Lindau railway station looks a little chaotic. Most of the trains are late. Other travellers wait for the train to Munich. The display panel says it will be late by 60 minutes. After 60 minutes, the display turns green: the train will be cancelled.
I overhear some of what the railway employees say. Apparently, they do not have enough locomotives!? Well, without locomotives, the trains will certainly not move.
Then the train to Zürich arrives and I board. In St. Gallen, the train arrives about 90 minutes late. The train conductor is very friendly. I get a food coupon worth 5 Schweizer Fränkli as compensation. I will use it on the way back for breakfast in the Swiss dining car. Incidentally, the delay – says the nice conductor – is due to a central switch at Munich Central station malfunctioning.
I fail to understand this entire affair. After all, the snow had been announced more than a day beforehand. And besides, it was not really that much fresh snow. In my childhood, the cars were covered by far more snow. And our Renault had no problems managing the streets where no winter service had been before us.
🙂 To be sure, my old “beetle” would have done even better. And the three days of the two of us enjoying the snow had been really wonderful, just like in former times.
But joking aside, basically, the railway service should be clearly at an advantage as a means of travel in these weather conditions.
To be sure, when I was a child, I always admired all the snow ploughs on the Allgäu railway stations. Today, you can only see them in museums. And in the age or privatization and shareholder value, the UB network of Bahn AG certainly has no money left for maintenance of their switches. And that the “Länderbahn und Voiglandbahn GmbH” (ALX) with their few trains cannot afford extra locomotives is understandable.
I am against privatization and for nationalization of “infra-structure relevant” enterprises and against saving and nationalizing of “system relevant” banks by the government. Above all, I wish we had a central railway system managed according to modern methods and supported politically with a network as wide-spread and well-maintained as possible. With shuttle traffic and redundant resources. As far as I am concerned, it is not necessary for this system to make a profit. It would suffice if it worked well.
It is quite possible that we will soon badly need this kind of railway system, because of the climate catastrophe and/or a new increase of prices for fossil energy.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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