[PRCo] Re: quick reply...Proof of Payment in Germany

[Fred Schneider]

While I'm waiting on my wife, I'll add something more to Bob  
Simpson's narrative.

What I say are observations, not slurs or condemnations of any  
country or ethnicity.   Some people are simply better at running  
trams or trains than others.

You all recall the jokes about using the German's as engineers, the  
Italians as lovers, the French as cooks, etc.   And there is probably  
a lot more truth than fiction in that humor.

In 1961 I paid my first visit to Milan.  Those Peter Witts were still  
running with trolley poles.   If I closed my ears to tune out the  
voices around me, it was not hard at all to believe I was again  
riding through North Philadelphia on an eighty-hundred.   But some  
the maintenance left something to be desired.  I remember peering out  
of a hotel window at a trolleys going through a switch below my room  
in front of Statione Centrale, that grand ediface built under  
Mussolini's regime.  Every other car was loosing its pole as it went  
through a frog.  I developed an immediate appreciation for  
pantographs.   I also developed an understanding for Mediterranean  
maintenance.   There is always tomorrow.   Schedules in Italy are  
also suggestions of when we might like to run to a much greater  
degree than in the German speaking world.  Don't get me wrong, the  
Italians wouldn't dream of running a passenger train as late as we  
are accustomed to with Amtrak.   But it might easily be ten or  
fifteen minutes down.

Switzerland, on the other hand, is a country dedicated to building  
fine watches and then using them to run its trains to the second.  I  
think I've said before that I have been on late trains in Switzerland  
but I have never missed a connection because of one.   There have  
been days when I have used a postal bus to connect with another  
postbus and three or four trains, some with connections as close as  
five minutes, and I never missed a connection.
For those wishing to go there, one of the better restaurants I've  
stumbled upon was in the back of the train station in Montreaux,  
Switzerland ... trackside ... back platforms.   There were tables on  
the platforms.   Some were actually reserved for train crews.   What  
amazed me most is that I had ridden the MOB from Bern to Montreaux  
and passed from the German speaking portion of Switzerland into the  
French speaking portion, and the food improved by light years.

One of the fantastic aspects of Europe are the number of cities in  
which railroads have stations within international airports.   There  
is a principal train station in the Zurich airport with trains  
stopping there serving points all over northeastern Switzerland and  
to points as far away in the southwest as Bern and Interlaken.

And look at their website ... it has a clock with a sweep second  
hand.   (When the clock refreshes, it exactly matches my own so I  
guess it's perfect.  <BG>)

http://mct.sbb.ch/mct/reisemarkt/services/bahnhof/further/servi-bahn- 
bahnhof-ostschweiz/zuerichflughafen.htm

Frankfurt a. Main does too.  "Some 88 long distance trains a day stop  
at its railway station, affording passengers direct connections to  
Cologne, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Dresden, Nürnberg and many other  
German cities, not to mention Vienna, Milan, Zürich and Amsterdam.   
And Düsseldorf, like Frankfurt, has two railway stations, one for  
long distance and InterCity trains and one for the local area."  The  
quotes came right out of German airport page I just found.   The two  
three largest cities, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich do not have railroad  
stations in their airports but Berlin may soon.    Stockholm, Sweden  
has high speed train service to downtown from the airport ... really  
high speed.  Both London airports have train service; Gatwick has  
both designated (means expensive) trains as well as regular service  
on the Brighton - London line.   Amsterdam Schiphol has service in  
both directions to Amsterdam and the Hague about six times and hour.

I'm certain someone will add something that I've forgotten....





On Aug 26, 2007, at 8:59 AM, Herb Brannon wrote:

> Good narrative. Thanks for the information. As I said in one of my  
> posts, it will be very interesting to see this system in operation  
> in Cleveland.
> robert simpson <bobs at pacbell.net> wrote:  This is probably way off- 
> topic but is directly related to inter-urban and intra-urban  
> transit systems.
>
> When I lived in Frankfurt-Mein, Germany in the early 1980's, I  
> remember the transit fare checkers boarding the trains. They were  
> not in uniform and wore ordinary business attire. They would board  
> the cars from all entrances/exits and, once the train was underway,  
> they would proceed down the aisles and show a wallet with a badge  
> on one side and an ID card on the other side to the riders. The  
> badge looked similar to a policeman's shield. They would politely  
> ask to see the ticket and it wasn't done in an intimidating manner.  
> As I recall, most of them were multi-lingual and usually spoke  
> English very well. I saw a few people given citations and were  
> usually given the opportunity to pay the fine immediately or to  
> have a citation sent by mail. I never observed any disorderly  
> conduct or attempt made to flee the train. Very difficult to flee  
> when the train is traveling at high speed. The fare inspectors  
> usually departed the train at the next station and, I assume,
> boarded the next train traveling the other way. There were only a  
> very few who did not have tickets. I seem to remember that they did  
> not necessarily go to every passenger but usually inquired of most  
> of the riders. They only had a short time from one station to the  
> next to perform this duty and these inspections were usually done  
> on the longer runs. They would accompany those who did not have a  
> ticket or pass off the train at the next station and would be seen  
> writing a citation. I never witnessed an actual physical arrest  
> being made. The actual ticket was printed on rather ordinary  
> looking paper and showed where purchased, time and date, and the  
> line for which the ticket was intended. It has a printed background  
> with their logo. There were always discard bins at the end of the  
> runs to prevent litter.
>
> Frankfurt, like most Eurpoean cities, also had a monthly "Pass"  
> system for which you went to one of the central stations in the  
> downtown area and went to the service counter. It wasn't very  
> expensive - I seem to recall about DM50 per month but this number  
> might be in error because of the passage of years. The Pass gave  
> you unlimited access to their transit system - but some of the  
> longer routes (e.g. to the airport, soccer stadium, etc.) required  
> purchasing additional fare from the fare machines. If you had a  
> monthly pass, the fare inspectors would glance at the pass, look  
> for the code marking for the current month, say "thank you" (they  
> were always polite) and proceed to the next person. On exta-fare  
> runs, they would look at both your pass and the extra fare ticket.
>
> The trains were always on-time (to the second) and extremely clean  
> inside and out. It was one of the best ways available to travel  
> around Frankfurt. The longest interval between trains was twelve  
> minutes - and that was at night after 9 P.M. Most, but not all, the  
> trains stopped operating at around 1 A.M. Most riders picked-up a  
> copy of the schedule either at the fare machine or on the train  
> itself. By planning ahead, travelers would arrive at the station/ 
> stop practically when the train was pulling into the station or  
> stop and board immediately.
>
> Each station and stop had fare machines and would accept coins  
> only. Interestingly, in the event the fare machine "broke down",  
> the riders would queue-up and patiently wait for a repair person to  
> perform the maintenance. The thought of boarding the train without  
> a ticket was foreign to them.
>
> Stops and stations were announced by a voice annunciator prior to  
> arrival and was usually in German only. Exceptions were on the long  
> lines from the Airport where the announcements were also in English  
> and French. Announcements were also made advising that the train  
> was being taken out of service and that a transfer to a different  
> train had to be made. My knowledge of German was very poor but I  
> learned to listen for a key word which sounded like "Ummsteigen" (I  
> think it means something like "detour") which meant that something  
> serious was going to happen and to follow the other riders.
>
> The trains had a pantograph-like device to draw the electricity  
> from the overhead wires. I was told that their system used  
> Alternating Current and used silicon rectifiers (SCR's) to control  
> the speed. Someone mentioned to me that the voltage was 660 volts.  
> I would have guessed it was higher since the houses have 220 volts.  
> The operator was in a separate compartment and was isolated from  
> the passengers. I don't know if the door was locked or not.
>
> I use the word "train" rather indiscriminately because most  
> Eurpoean cities join together several cars and the length varies  
> depending upon anticipated passenger traffic. A "train" might be  
> only one car in length during non-peak periods or several cars long  
> during peak periods. The length of the train was limited to the  
> length of the shortest platform on the route.
>
> There were two main classifications of transit lines - the S-Bahn  
> (Strassenbahn) and the U-Bahn (Undterstrassenbahn). The S-Bahn  
> could be associated with streetcars and the U-Bahn as being  
> underground (subways). The cars themselves appeared identical in  
> appearance. The S-Bahns often didn't run directly on the street but  
> were on their own right-of-way immediately beside the street.
>
> In Frankfurt, and most of Europe, the train is the way to go! Taxi  
> fare from the airport to downtown Frankfurt was close to 40DM  
> depending on how long the trip took (they use taxi meters the same  
> as they do here) and took almost one hour, but the transit fare was  
> only 4DM - and took less than 15 minutes. Remember, these were the  
> prices back in the early 1980's!
>
> Oops, sorry! I hadn't planned to ramble on so long. Those who know  
> me are aware of this "problem" I have.
>
> Bob
> from California
>
>
> Herb Brannon
>
>