Bahn chaos in Paderborn: Construction site ensures delays and anger!

Bahn chaos in Paderborn: Construction site ensures delays and anger!

Paderborn and the surrounding area are faced with considerable restrictions on rail traffic in October and November. From October 17th to November 13th, the connection between Paderborn and Altenbeken to the important ICE station in Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe will be interrupted. This situation has longer travel times and has alerted the Pro Bahn passenger association, which criticizes the poor information on the part of the railway.

Rainer Engel, deputy state chairman of Pro Bahn, commented: "The passengers who want to travel from the Paderborn or Höxter district to Warburg, Kassel and southern Germany will be confronted with uncomfortable surprises on the railway track." The problems begin with the fact that the current timetables did not contain any indications of the upcoming restrictions a week before the start of construction.

construction measures due to Dammrutsch

The blocking has become necessary to renovate a railway embankment in the region. This has significant damage after a dam slide that occurred at the end of last year. Deutsche Bahn had already announced in the summer to implement “as much as possible” during the 26-day total closure. According to Angel, only the timetables for two of the long -distance trains were adjusted until the announcement, which would present travelers with unforeseen problems.

The diversions for the long-distance trains over Hameln, Hanover-Linden and Göttingen extend the travel times by up to 80 minutes, while travelers who want to use the Rhein-Ruhr Express have to change in Willebadessen and have to plan for an hour longer for their way.

only after Pro Bahn published a press release, did the rail replacement traffic appear in the official timetables and apps such as the DB Navigator, but initially only for the month of October. This delayed publication shows how inconsistent information spread in this area.

Reasons for late information distribution

Deutsche Bahn said that she could only insert the information about rail replacement traffic after receiving the relevant railway traffic companies. National Express, responsible company for the RE11 line, stated attacks on Deutsche Bahn and its communication on the construction work that led to the delay in timetable updates.

National Express said that the late announcement of the construction work by DB Infrago had harmed the original planning process. Crucial times were missing in the transmitted timetable documents, which is essential for the planning. When designing the timetables, one also encounters the wishes of the topics of the task, which takes additional time due to the complexity of the construction work. The publication of the new travel times is also bound to the fixed cycles of the railway schedule.

The disappointment about poor communication continues because passengers who suffer from the changes can only return their tickets one day after the validity of the ticket. In the event of delays of more than an hour, you can also request compensation, whereby the original timetable from the time of the ticket booking is decisive.

The current situation on the railway track causes dissatisfaction among travelers. In the past few weeks it has been shown that the information policy of the railway must be revised during such construction work. The Paderborn commuters and travelers are dependent on comprehensive and timely information in order to be able to plan their trips accordingly.

Details for ongoing reporting can be found view here .

Overall, it remains to be seen whether the railway will be better in the future in order to avoid such difficulties for passengers.