Commutor chaos in Beelitz: RE7 closure ensures long waiting times!

Commutor chaos in Beelitz: RE7 closure ensures long waiting times!

In the green area of Beelitz, the everyday life of commuters has come out of joint in recent weeks. An extensive rail replacement traffic for the popular train connection of the RE7 ensures displeasure and long faces. According to the information from maz-online.de, the RE7 now falls out-and that has Serious consequences for passengers.

This morning the scenery in Borkheide was already quite dreary at 6:15 a.m.: About a dozen passengers were waiting impatiently for the announced replacement bus. The journey time to Potsdam extends from the usual 20 minutes to a whopping 90 minutes. Felix Krüger, 21, is worried, because he has to appear on the vocational school in Berlin-Spandau on time at 8 a.m. Countless commuters such as Damien Elz, 17 years old, whose work to Berlin-Schöneweide is also affected, are reaching their limits these days.

challenges of replacement traffic

The replacement bus, which is operated by a provider from Rostock, has to fight with difficulties right from the start: a defective navigation device means that the bus driver is on the A9 and that it arrives with about ten minutes late. The result? Of the passengers who are under time pressure anyway, only two reach their destination in good time. For the others, the world trip becomes the excitement of the day, since the bus remains empty on the way back.

After the circumstances of the replacement traffic are known, more and more commuters are looking for alternatives. The streets around Klaistow and Beelitz-Stadt are accordingly overloaded. The city of Beelitz also confirms that the buses are fuller than ever, and even school buses can no longer cover the need. A commuter who wants to go to Michendorf even reports that her travel time has expanded from 10 minutes to 45 minutes. Other passengers fight with the VBB app that favors the change in the wrong direction-and so it happens that a woman from Potsdam appears to work with a two-hour delay.

Information on compensation and driving rights

The legal framework is also not to be neglected. According to WDR.de, the users of Germany tickets are entitled to compensation: If there is a delay or train failure of at least 60 minutes, there is 1.50 euros. Amounts below 4 euros are not paid out, but it is possible to collect several delays. The railway traffic company has to draw up its own methods for the application.

according to the regulations of the federal government on eba.bund.de, passengers for 60 minutes are compensated in the amount of 25 percent of the fare. With a delay of at least 120 minutes, even 50 percent. These compensation are particularly relevant, because these claims also exist in the inevitable rail replacement traffic - provided the new timetables are not met. Therefore, commuters should pay good attention to their travel times and find out more in case of doubt.

Overall, the current failure of the RE7 in an urgent way shows how vulnerable local public transport can be and how much the commuters in the region have to fight to get to their school or work in good time. It is to be hoped that despite the adverse circumstances, a certain level of punctuality and quality in the traffic system will be preserved.