So this was the big annual weekend: the day that all the train schedules in Germany – at least I presume all of Germany changes this weekend—if it didn’t, then this was the big weekend of massive changes to the train schedules in Thüringen.
Some how I doubt the changes were limited to Thüringen.
Let’s just say that I’m not especially happy with the changes.
Basically my trip to work has one long train ride from Weimar’s main train station to the Jena West train station—a ride of either 15 minutes or 21 minutes, depending on which train you catch. However, getting from where I live to Weimar’s main station is either a 25 minute walk or a 4 minute train ride.
Unfortunately the four minute train ride is really badly timed now—so much so that the most common 40ish minute train ride from start to finish now clocks in at 50 minutes—which means that I’ll be spending 25 minutes in the main train station doing nothing—not a pleasant prospect. I might as well walk.
There is one set of connections each day that allows one to go from my local station to Jena West in 25 minutes—it has a 5ish minute connection at the main train station in Weimar. In the morning this is a rather convenient time allowing me to leave the house at 7:40 quite comfortably. The quick return trip leaves at 10:30 pm – a rather dismally late hour for my taste.
Did I mention that I tried this today: my first train was 4ish minutes late—a really tight connection, fortunately cross platform so I wasn’t forced to dash down stairs across to another platform and back up to catch the train.
I foresee a lot of missed connections this year.
I also foresee more walking which is, in the long run, probably a good thing.
Just this morning I was complaining because I lived where there is no metro or trains.
It’s car or you stay in town.
But, I can bike pretty much anywhere in town all year long. So, I’ll shut up.
The lack of public transit in most of the USA is horrible and something that Europeans cannot even begin to comprehend.
It’s extremely difficult to explain it to them and they have a very hard time understanding why one must rent a car or take a taxi in the US, where in Europe you can hop on a tram or take a metro.
I have started taking the bus, but since it only comes once an hour, I get to work 30 minutes early and I can’t catch the bus til 45 minutes after i’m done with work 🙁 makes my days quite long 🙁
ps i’m totally getting good at remembering to type in the phrase 😀
Aaaah, the major train-schedule-change-weekend had also taken place in Germany…. Same here in Holland and like what you experience in Germany… it’s the same here: bad connections to other trains and as usual, delays.. Long live the Deutsche Bahn and the Nederlandse Spoorwegen!
I’m sure you’ve considered this, but here it is anyway. . .
Could you cut down on the time to the train station by biking?
Here’s hoping next year’s adjustments are in your favor!
Ann, it’s a good idea, and I’ve done it a couple times, but if I do bike, then I need to use a bigger and bulkier backpack to transport stuff. There are tradeoffs everywhere, and I don’t actually mind the walk. It’s not opressively long (20 minutes if I go the most direct route), it just that the last train schedule was unreasonably favorable to my using the short train.