Arriving and Leaving at Wiesbaden Main Train Station
Since we switched our clocks to summer time last night (we "lost" one hour), I thought I post something time-related today. The Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) came to mind right away...When talking to people from other countries they always tell me about the German "Pünktlichkeit" (punctuality). Especially the trains seem to have this myth that they always go on time according to the time schedule.
Well... let's say they try to. I could tell you endless stories about them not leaving on time of course but that'll just be in my little part of the world :-). The official statistics say something about 85-95% punctuality.
By the way, the Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof is a "Kopfbahnhof" (terminal station), meaning that when the trains come in, they have to leave "backwards" again.
Labels: sights
posted by Nicola @ 8:55 AM
13 comments
13 Comments:
I once read that in the night where the clocks are turned back an hour again, trains in Germany just stand around for one hour in the middle of the night, so there won't be any confusions with the schedule...
Great shot of an amazing place. Thats an interesting piece of trivia there by nebel.
Hi Nicola
Great shot. The train's do look fast.
Nice trivia. That's what I do - just hang around in bed for an hour
I didn't know that Kopfbahnhof meant they had to back up to leave! How funny.
That is a really neat looking train, great pic!
Too bad there is not that many passenger trains in Canada, I guess everybody takes a car where ever they go.
good pic...yeah german trains are famously punctual, along with many of the train services in our European neighbours..sadly, our trains are rubbish! that said, I took a Thalys from Brussels to Cologne in January and it was running on time until it arrived in Germany...it arrived 15 minutes late and the train announcements were SO apologetic...I can't imagine Scotrail being so sorry!
Thats a very nice train!
Im always very excited to see photos of trains, maybe because its my main mean of transportation when I travel, aaaaaaa I need to go travelling again, patience patience... :)
Neat and very interesting!
Good piece of information with pictures. I see that you maintain three blogs! way to go!
interesting with those clock and hour settings...
we dont have it back here in Malaysia...
but it could be quite confusing for those non-locals....
but i still find it interesting though...something we dont have
I think complaining about trains being late (or some leaves/snow on the rails causing trouble)is number 2 on the list of daily conversational topics (just after the weather!)
nebel - I've heard about that as well. We'll have to check it in Fall then...
ali - Thanks!
bob - yes, those are actually the faster trains (ICE - Intercity Express), going long distance. The slower regional trains don't look as stylish. As for "winning" an hour (in Fall) - that's what I usually do, sleep longer!
chris - well, it feels like that here as well. I wonder how they came up with their 85%-95%... there's another saying that works well here: "never trust a statistic that you haven't "faked" yourself"... ;)
sam - that's the reason why most trains in Germany have a locomotive on the front and the back as well. There are quite a few trainstations as "Kopfbahnhof".
wolf - there are more and more people doing the same here. But especially during high peak traffic hours it's nicer to take the trains to avoid traffic jams. And you might be able to get some work done during the train ride. Some of the newer trains even offer internet connection nowadays - that's brandnew!
grant - the "Deutsche Bundesbahn" (german train company) has a "not so good" reputation here in Germany because of delays and service etc. SO they're really trying hard to brighten that image up. Especially since the company went public and has to satisfy their stockholders...
dia - a friend of mine once used an interrail ticket and was able to travel all over Europe for a bargain price. I don't know if they have that anymore... have you tried it?
wisconsin pics - at the moment I'm using my old Nikon Coolpix 995. But I'm thinking of switching to a smaller pocketsize camera which would be easier to take with me all the time. Maybe a Canon Ixus... We'll see...
Jill - thanks for your comment - always appreciated!
grain of sand - yep, I do. And I'm having a lot of fun with it! One of it is not a daily blog though - I'm already busy enough with the other two ;-D.
zbjernak - actually, my dad told me that we didn't have this about 20 years ago. It's officially called "dailight savings time" and was introduced to adjust the time according to daylight a bit. Doesn't really make a difference in my opinion though...
santy - asking the majority of people here, they would tell you the same...
local b - to be honest I have no idea how a japanese bullet train looks like...? Is it a long distance train as well?
durchie - I'm sure you're right... And where would we be without the weather and the trains... ;)
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