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The satirical website "Postillon" has been publishing the message with increasing frequency since 2017 that the railway needs a gaming license for its winter timetable.

The biting satire currently describes the situation very well - initially in the north and center of Germany, especially in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

Long-distance traffic was stopped there on the weekend as a precaution.

There is a threat of "extreme storms".

People from Hamburg to Flensburg still waited in vain for the storm on Monday.

They also waited in vain for long-distance trains.

However, a “major disruption” due to the onset of winter and “storm damage” prevented traffic on the days north of the Elbe that have been largely free of snow since Friday.

What use is a "comfort check-in" to people?

A fortnight ago, a moderately exciting snowfall, a fairly common onset of winter in the middle of winter, promptly stopped the ICE traffic north of Hanover in the evening hours.

A replacement train to the north did not leave shortly before midnight, some passengers finally came to their destination in taxis.

It was a completely uncomfortable check-out of the train, hardly that it snowed.

China is winterizing trains

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ICE trains and their infrastructure are certainly sensitive technology.

Icefall can endanger the lightweight wagons, the high-performance brakes need special care, the digital route monitoring and the track bedding are not always completely weather-resistant - it's all free.

Nobody demands that the trains run at 250 km / h when it is snowing.

A driving style adapted to the weather is a matter of course.

It is not a matter of course that passengers from Cologne to Berlin are referred to 13-hour journeys with local and regional trains through half of the republic, as happened on Sunday in the railway information.

The end-to-end connection is crucial.

Even in the ICE model country China, trains run at reduced speed in winter.

But they also drive there at minus 20, minus 30 degrees, and China equips its vehicles for extreme winter routes with all sorts of technical refinements so that they are weatherproof.

Is that completely unthinkable in Germany?

Is it completely unthinkable that at least two or three ICE trains leave when the predicted sudden fall in the weather has not occurred?

Is it out of the question that such an ICE will get a diesel locomotive pre-tensioned if the overhead line is disrupted in sections?

Is it presumptuous to demand that such locomotives be kept at junctions?

Switching from the car?

Not like that!

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Winter weather is really no "extreme" exception in Germany.

Every five to ten years there is really snow and cold.

There have been times when the railway set its whole ambition on maintaining the train service in such weather, also with electric traction.

At that time it was still called the Bundesbahn (in the west) or the Reichsbahn (in the east).

Deutsche Bahn AG seems to have lost some of its ambition.

Or it follows other guidelines than the wish to offer the customer the best possible service.

The impression may be wrong, but unfortunately it is imposed: If the weather deviates from a normal situation, the railway stretches its arms.

In the south, you may soon be able to expect similar experiences.

It should snow there this week too.

The Greens, or anyone else who would like to take over the Ministry of Transport in autumn, have illustrative examples showing that there is a lot to be done.

For the sake of the climate, people should actually switch from cars to trains.

Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced on Monday afternoon as one of four “future missions”: “We want to do everything we can to ensure that we manage to organize modern mobility.” If this mission does not include the abolition of winter, then you are real curious; excited.

The railway has proven these days that switching to the railway is initially pure climate policy wishful thinking.