Via Facebook, a friend sent me a last week cover of the Berlin tabloid paper Berliner Kurier, including an obituary to the 173-year-old Berlin commuter rail network, the first and largest S-Bahn. Although still alive, the operator DB Regio has been struggling to even remotely follow the timetable for more than 1.5 years — ever since it has seriously cut back on maintenance capacity at the same time as it turned out that the new trainsets need extra frequent checks.
Berlin tabloid cover with S-Bahn obituary
With anger and sadness we bid farewell to our beloved S-Bahn. She survived two World Wars and the division of Berlin. But then she fell victim to carelessness and greed, management failure and the inability of local and federal politicians.
Berlin S-Bahn (Photo: Daniel Sparing)
