Train services from Germany to Eastern Europe are currently in a catastrophic state, writes the forsal.pl website, citing German media reports.
Although it has been seven years since the opening of the Berlin Hauptbahnhof railway station, one of the largest railway stations in Europe, the number and quality of railway services from the eastern part of the continent still leave a lot to be desired. German MEP Michael Cramer (the Group of the Greens) wants to change the situation, writes Tagesspiegel.
"Railway freight transport between Poland and Germany is even worse than it was during the Cold War,” he said. In fact, 18 long-distance trains operated between the two countries per day in 1972, but there are only six today, Peter Kirnich writes in Frankfurter Rundschau. The quality of the train service between Warsaw and Berlin has improved, but services to other destinations leave much to be desired.
The Germans would like to upgrade the railway roadbed from Berlin in the direction of Szczecin and Wroclaw.
An illustrative example of the disastrous state of railway services between Germany and Eastern Europe is the service from Berlin to Tallinn. A 1,700-kilometer trip from the capital of Germany to Estonia takes about 35-40 hours. Even locomotives once covered this distance in 27 hours.
Trains to Germany from Eastern Europe are in a terrible state, concluded the German media. However, the issue is not just about money: political decisions are also important, said Tagesspiegel.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia canceled Kiev-Berlin trains last year because, according to officials, they were unprofitable.
