Climate change is here. It affects transportation systems, sometimes in unexpected ways. In this article, I describe the effects that this year’s drought had on waterways in Germany and world wide.
In this second article on climate change and transportation system, I talk about the increase of flooding, especially the more and more common flash flood.
Climate change is here. It affects transportation systems, sometimes in unexpected ways. In this article, I describe the effects that a recent heat wave had on the tramway services in Nuremberg, Germany.
The CEO of Deutsche Bahn has to go German trains used to run on time, but that was a long time ago. Over many decades, underinvestment in infrastructure has turned the once proud railway system into a daily nuisance for everyone who has to use it. Travelers, commuters and shippers alike suffer from it. The sad low point came last year, when Germany hosted the European Football Championship and international guests were faced with a transportation chaos. At the same time, the Deutsche Bahn accumulates one loss making year after the other. Fixing this situation would be the crowning achievement of any manager. Yet the top job in the state-owned company comes with a lot of additional constraints, as the CEO has to cope with the demands of changing governments, constant interference in their work and with chronic underfunding. So far, no one has succeeded in this daunting task. Now we have one more person who unfortunately could not finish the job. Richard Lutz, who took over the top position in 2017, was fired by the new Minister or Transport, Patrick Schnieder. Lutz could neither stop the losses nor make the trains more punctual, with punctuality reaching a record low of 62% last year (and remember, a train still counts as punctual if the delay is not higher than 5 minutes). A successor still needs to be found, until then Mr. Lutz stays in charge. We can just hope that the new man - or woman - on the job has more luck. Yet the real change that has to happen is that the government commits to a long-term plan of the railway system and also provides the funding. Even though it has increased, the per-capita spending for railway infrastructure is too low compared with other European Countries. It will take many more Euros, and likely even more time, to fix the German railway system and prepare it for the future. ...