We have a similar system in Portugal for Ausbildung (Técnico Professional), I wished more folks would pay attention to it, as it also suffers from the same problem that everyone just wants to go to the university instead.

Trains are great and the network covers most of the country, not like in Portugal that is only the costal cities and a few lucky ones on the countryside, however in the 20+ years I lived here, they have certainly been through better times.