Easter is travel time.

Deutsche Bahn knows this very well, which is why it has planned ahead: 50 special trains will be deployed between Maundy Thursday and the end of the holidays on April 24 on the main routes, for example between Berlin and Munich.

She wisely announced this in a press release at the end of March.

It also included the obligatory tip: "It is advisable to reserve a seat."

Corinna Budras

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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We would also recommend: additional food and a lot of patience.

Because Easter is not only travel time for the railway company, but also construction time - and that often means complete closure, for example on the route between Frankfurt and Fulda.

Not only are there more trains running, they are also running much longer.

The manageable journey between Frankfurt and Kassel, for example, will take an hour longer.

The connection Berlin and Munich is also affected: otherwise a showcase route that can be covered in four hours with the ICE, it now takes two hours longer with a full closure at the best travel time.

These are just the prominent examples, by no means all.

Freight traffic will be severely affected on the route between Mannheim, Karlsruhe and Freiburg.

Bad planning has long been an issue

Deutsche Bahn does not publish a press release for this information.

The customer finds out about the extension in passing in the booking portal when he stares in disbelief at the inflated travel times.

The information is also given to those who are in contact with passenger associations, freight transport companies and competitors.

Because they're fuming with anger.

There is already talk of "Easter chaos", although neither a storm nor a sudden onset of winter has been announced for the holidays.

The usual construction site load is enough, which is increased again on the public holidays because you can build particularly well on days with little traffic.

Except that the Easter holidays are not such traffic-calmed days.

"People want to travel, they want to take the train again," enthused DB long-distance manager Michael Peterson.

This is clearly shown in the increasing number of bookings.

"We have a significantly higher demand than last year at this time."

This reveals a kind of bad planning that critics have been accusing the state-owned company with a central function for years when they say that one division of the group (DB Netz) does not know what the other is doing (DB Station & Service) and what another needs ( DB long-distance).

Bad memories are awakened of the late autumn of last year, when the disruptions took on such proportions that rail freight traffic in and through Germany on the main corridors “almost came to a standstill”, as several industry associations complained in a fire letter.

“It is clear that there is a need to build”

There is only agreement on one point: "It is clear that construction has to be done," admits Karl-Peter Naumann, Honorary Chairman of the Pro Schiene passenger association, and who wants to do that with a route network of more than 33,000 kilometers?

In 2022, the group will invest the record sum of 13.6 billion euros in the urgently needed renovation of the rail infrastructure, emphasizes a group spokesman.

In the past few years, around 800 construction sites were worked on per day at the peak, this year there are over 1000 construction sites.

The only question is when?

The answer has become more explosive in the corona pandemic, because the number of passengers has shifted significantly in the past two years.

Not only was there a blatant slump, but also a significant drop in the number of business customers.

If the numbers are now increasing significantly again, it is mainly thanks to the "leisure travellers" - and they like to travel on weekends and during the holidays, i.e. during the times that the railways used to improve their rail network.

Added to this are the long-established reservations about a group that is difficult to control.

"We have been talking about better construction site management with the participation of the Ministry of Transport for six years," complains Peter Westenberger, Managing Director of the European Railway Network (NEE).

Time and again, there was talk about more efficient construction site management, better utilization control and failed communication in the event of a crisis.

According to Westenberger, nothing has noticeably improved.

There will still be opportunities for discussions.

At the end of April, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) invites you to do so again.

It is already clear what it will be about: Then the situation around Easter will also be evaluated.