Erratic Deutsche Bahn services make our commutes a misery. Luckily, their meaningless announcements are an art form
My favourite excuse is an expression that might one day be emblematic of contemporary Germany. I hear Deutsche Bahn wants staff to stop using it, but it can’t banish it from our minds. Verzögerungen im Betriebsablauf – “operational delays” – is meaningful and meaningless in a way that only the German language allows. One day it might even become one of those golden words co-opted into the English language – like zeitgeist or schadenfreude. (Let’s retire Blitz, a word that is jaded and overused in sport, politics and beyond.)
Verzögerungen im Betriebsablauf is the magic phrase for not getting anywhere fast while also suggesting everything is full steam ahead. It is sinister in a beautiful way. It is a phrase Kafka might use if he were writing today, a perfect description of a situation where no one can do anything but everyone is busy.
No, it’s not privatised, although currently organised as a joint-stock company (AG) with the state being the sole shareholder. But it was supposed to be privatised and made “profitable” starting in the 90s.
They didn’t control it very well though. DB AG did spend a lot of money on non-rail related expenses like the DB Schenker road freight division and also on investments in other countries. Apart from that they also have some sort of weird division between maintenance and rebuilding costs, the former DB AG needs to pay and the latter are often paid for by separate funds which gives a strong incentive not to perform maintenance.