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Train fiasco in MV: air conditioning fails – travelers in the heat!
Overcrowded trains and defective air conditioning affect ODEG journeys in Ludwigslust-Parchim. What does this mean for travelers?
Train fiasco in MV: air conditioning fails – travelers in the heat!
At the weekend, traveling with the Regional Express 8 from Berlin to Wismar was an endurance test for many passengers. Loud NDR The air conditioning failed in five ODEG (East German Railway) trains. The regional express in question was particularly affected, as it took more than three hours to complete the journey. A technical defect, specifically overheated transformers, caused the trains to become unbearably hot.
The trains were not only unair-conditioned, but also overcrowded: the double-decker train used offers space for almost 430 seats and more than 660 standing places. This is particularly disappointing as the summer months are just beginning and demand is correspondingly high. ODEG said it is working on a solution to avoid such incidents in the coming months.
Critical situation in Berlin
A similar picture emerged in Berlin on the same Sunday evening. Here, 1,200 passengers in a regional express were left standing on the open road. Here too, a technical defect, this time in the brakes, was the reason for the disruption. The air conditioning could no longer be supplied due to a power cut, which led to a critical situation. After waiting for an hour and asking passengers to go to the adjacent forest, the emergency services were finally alerted. Loud World Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
50 firefighters as well as Deutsche Bahn and police employees were deployed to evacuate the passengers. The passengers were eventually taken to a safe area off the tracks to continue their journey. The situation clearly shows how critical the state of the technical infrastructure is, especially when you consider that with the summer heat, more and more travelers are relying on train transport.
A constant problem
The unreliability of air conditioning on trains is not a new issue. According to a research by T Online Last year there was a breakdown of 0.3 percent of all ICE and IC cars due to defective air conditioning. This shows that the reliability in modern ICE trains is definitely higher, which is emphasized by Deutsche Bahn itself. The feedback from the Pro Bahn passenger representative is that overall reliability is good, even if subjectively perceived failures occur again and again.
Every year, Deutsche Bahn invests massive amounts of money in maintaining and improving air conditioning technology. For example, a test wagon is used to test innovative solutions that further optimize climatic conditions on trains. This gives hope for future summers, when the air-conditioned trains will hopefully not make you sweat again.