Düsseldorf railway station
 |
Photo: Philipp Schiwek |
Check a map and Dusseldorf lies on a route from Cologne to Hamburg. Almost. NRW being what it is, rail tracks criss-cross the state, some laying unused for decades, some for freight, others for local trains and others still for cross-country commuting.
But the state owned monoplist running the railways decided to make our lives difficult here. Comfortable higher speed ICE trains run on a major route which runs through the smaller town of Wuppertal on their way from Cologne to Dortmund then travel north to Hamburg or east to Berlin. Others grace our town with their presence having passed through the highly populated centres on the river Ruhr that include Essen.
If you have never heard of a place called Hamm, learn it now. If sittting in the wrong carriage leaving Berlin or Hanover, be prepared to lug your bags to the other part of the train when the Deutsch Bahn splits the train in half. Oh, and by the way, don't think of walking thru whilst travelling. There is no door.
With only 18 million inhabitants living in the region, the rail company has difficulty filling trains in spite of comfortable seating and high speed connections. I wonder if its their poor time keeping with up to ten percent delays or the above nonsense? Could, of course, also be due to some of their grumpy staff and helplessly long queues at sales offices.
Oh yes, they decided to remove the stops at Dusseldorf Airport from most of their services due to rebuilding, claiming they need to save four minutes during a phase of rebuilding. Well done, now that is professional. And customer oriented. Check your journey before setting off.
Dusseldorf Central
Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 14
40210 Düsseldorf
Dusseldorf Airport
Flughafenstraße 120
40474 Düsseldorf