Packages of measures are easier to sell if the associated problems are not decades old.

It was correspondingly difficult for Deutsche Bahn and Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing to ignite the flame of awakening on Wednesday.

The goal is worthy of all honor: the railway should become so reliable that "we can set the clock by the railway again," as Wissing put it, in the interests of the consumer, who would rather set off with plenty of buffers in their luggage than set off on their own to leave a train on time.

However, it will be anything but easy to achieve this goal.

Generations of federal transport ministers and railway managers have tried in vain before.

All they have achieved is that the situation is as muddled as it has ever been.

It is difficult to believe in the success of the new package of measures.

"Path to the high-performance network"

No railway manager has ever set out with the will to make construction site management as inefficient and tedious as possible, and yet this is precisely the problem.

The colossus of the railways, politicians, competitors and possibly the railway board itself sigh, has simply become ungovernable.

Now everything is supposed to be different.

Wissing and Bahn boss Richard Lutz verbosely explain their "path to the high-performance network": The railways will become a top priority, including a new Deutsche Bahn steering group, and in 2024 an "infrastructure society oriented towards the common good" will see the light of day.

Even more important: Now we are building as much as we can.

No longer one after the other, but at the same time, just as it is best to renovate an old building that is getting on in years.

That sounds too simple to be true, and yet the unnerved rail customer has no choice but to keep hoping for the big turning point.

This is also decided by the people involved.

It is the destiny of Deutsche Bahn as a company to be fully in the hands of the state.

A lot depends on how important your most expensive company is to politics.

Wissing does not hold back with big protestations.

Now he has to stay on the ball.