Deutsche Bahn seems very similar to most of the railway in England. Customer service is non-existent; delays are highly normalised.

The UK government hates how expensive it is to operate, so they are reducing subsidies and massively prioritising the most profitable routes and raising prices.

Staff got nice condition/pay bumps during COVID and all have the attitude that they are doing us a favour. I don't mean that lightly or that I've had one bad experience with a member of staff on a bad day. They are work-shy, offensive, rude, lacking training and plain bad tempered.

I'm very pro car now these days, which is exactly what the Government wants.

▲

a2fz 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Customer service on British trains is excellent. It only takes a few minutes to claim Delay Repay if you're delayed more than 15 minutes, and you can even set it up to do it automatically for you. If your last train back home for the night is cancelled at 1am, you can message the company on social media and they'll pay £100+ to sort you out with a taxi for a distance like London to Cambridge.

I consistently find railway workers to be some of the most helpful and approachable people I have to interact with, which is remarkable given the sort of people they have to put up with. I think the sort of person you'll be speaking to certainly depends on the part of the country you're in though - in Scotland and Wales, I've seen people who've been let off for having a ticket that expired several days prior, and staff are happy to have a friendly chat if the train isn't too busy.

	▲	hexbin010 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I've taken trains regularly in England for 25 years. I disagree. What's your experience? And it's taken a massive turn for the worse since 2020 England is definitely worse than Scotland and Wales I grant you that. And fwiw, in Scotland, they have far less powers to prosecute compared to England, which is why they seem like they are more lenient As I responded in another thread, not all operators are 15 minutes. Not that 25/50% often isn't really that much compensation... And that taxi is far from gaurenteed. I get the sense you had one or two good experiences and extrapolated?

▲

jimnotgym 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm pro car, I would much prefer to relax on a train, but the economics just don't work in the UK. I can't think of anywhere I want to go where taking the train is cheaper than driving

▲

orsorna 9 hours ago | parent [-]

After paying for fuel, insurance, property taxes and maintenance (exclude the possibility of a car note in this scenario), is it still cheaper than taking the train?

	▲	jimnotgym 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes. Because the trains don't go from my house, and don't go everywhere I need to go, so I need a car anyway.