It would be an odd reference to make since it's usually applied to Mussolini, falsely (it's propaganda, he did not actually make the trains run on time[0].) I suspect in this case it just generally refers to some archetype of efficient modern German infrastructure and engineering.

[0]https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-15/stop-sayi...

It was the first thing that came to my mind, even though that referenced Mussolini. But I think about WWII probably too often. Maybe the editor wasn't thinking that at all.