{"id":4107,"date":"2024-07-18T00:45:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T00:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/how-euro-2024-busted-legend-of-german-efficiency\/"},"modified":"2024-07-18T00:45:55","modified_gmt":"2024-07-18T00:45:55","slug":"how-euro-2024-busted-legend-of-german-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/how-euro-2024-busted-legend-of-german-efficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"How Euro 2024 busted legend of German efficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By\u00a0Jessica Parker,\u00a0<\/span>BBC Berlin correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"KevinKevin Voigt\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This fan’s assessment was: “Our train service is an embarrassment to Germany”<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Germany\u2019s reputation for super-efficiency has suffered a body blow.<\/p>\n

As football fans poured in and out of cities across the country for Euro 2024, they discovered the trains weren\u2019t as good as they thought.<\/p>\n

One supporters\u2019 group even said services were better when Russia hosted the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Fans praised \u201csensational\u201d pricing deals which, for ticket holders, included discounted or even free local travel as part of a sustainability drive.<\/p>\n

But Thomas Concannon from the Football Supporters\u2019 Association complained: \u201cWe were in constant contact with fans who were experiencing problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

He believes surprise at the situation was partly borne out of a “pre-conceived reputation about Germany that the trains run on time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lindsey and Darren Ramskill from Goole in East Yorkshire went to six out of England’s seven matches and experienced packed trains, stop-start services and poor communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not moaning about British trains anymore,\u201d said Lindsey. \u201cOurs are better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Lindsey<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Lindsey and Darren Ramskill were shocked by the rail service they experienced<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Another football supporter from the neighbouring Netherlands, who travels a lot for his work as a motivational speaker, was less shocked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can, I try to avoid Germany now because there are always problems,\u201d said Wiebe Wakker.<\/p>\n

After the England v Netherlands semi-final, his delayed journey out of Dortmund included an \u201cunbearably hot\u201d carriage with no functioning air conditioning.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was sweating,\u201d he said. It was so \u201chorrible\u201d he got off and took a taxi the rest of the way with some England supporters.<\/p>\n

Within Germany there\u2019s been exasperation with the Deutsche Bahn national rail operator for years.<\/p>\n

Just 64% cent of long-distance trains<\/a> ran on time in 2023. That compares with a declining level of punctuality in Great Britain of 67.8%<\/a> trains arriving on schedule in the year to March 2023.<\/p>\n

In Germany, calls for desperately needed investment are often heard as part of a wider debate about how to boost a flagging economy.<\/p>\n

German transport lobby group Allianz pro Schiene (pro-Rail alliance) compared spending per person on railway infrastructure across 14 European countries including the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It found Germany was 10th last year at \u20ac115 (\u00a397) per person, while the UK was sixth and Luxembourg topped the group with \u20ac512 per head.<\/p>\n

For Germans it is no surprise that well-used motto “Vorsprung durch Technik” (Headstart through Technology) belies a less potent, more sluggish, picture.<\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s largest economy has for years quite publicly struggled with how to modernise.<\/p>\n

Analysts do not just blame a lack of investment but a failure to digitise the economy married with tedious red tape.<\/p>\n

Rules and paperwork can suck up valuable time for both businesses and people.<\/p>\n

One example, in Berlin, is that you are legally required to make an in-person appointment to register a new home address within two weeks.<\/p>\n

But good luck getting one.<\/p>\n

The local government website offers no available appointments at all on Wedneday, right through to mid-September.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\" RALF HIRSCHBERGER\/AFP<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Both private and public sectors have seen under-investment for years, says Professor Hubertus Bardt from the German Economic Institute (IW).<\/p>\n

Railways have undergone a \u201chere and there\u201d approach to repairs, he says, which “causes delays and doesn\u2019t really solve the problems\u201d.<\/p>\n

More major works are now getting going such as the five-month mega-renewal on the Frankfurt-to-Mannheim line.<\/p>\n

But Professor Bardt believes a \u201chuge programme\u201d of broader spending is needed which looks well beyond the annual budgets that can cause political agony for Germany\u2019s ruling coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have thousands of bridges that have to be renovated or rebuilt,\u201d he says. The problem is primarily in western Germany which is creaking under infrastructure built in the sixties and seventies, while the east saw fresh investment after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.<\/p>\n

The overall view for Germany is worrying, as economic growth forecasts continue to put it at the bottom of the pile when compared with other G7 major economies.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s projected to grow by just 0.2% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).<\/p>\n

Efficiency, unrivalled industry and punctuality are labels that have stubbornly stuck to Germany\u2019s reputation abroad but have long worn thin at home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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22 minutes ago By\u00a0Jessica Parker,\u00a0BBC Berlin correspondent Kevin Voigt\/Getty Images This fan’s assessment was: “Our train service is an embarrassment to Germany” Germany\u2019s reputation for super-efficiency has suffered a body blow. As football fans poured in and out of cities across the country for Euro 2024, they discovered the trains weren\u2019t as good as they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4109,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4107\/revisions\/4109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}