After the latest change in the timetable, the experiences of rail passengers who take the train from Zapfendorf in the morning in the direction of Bamberg are quite different. From "not much better to "a nice feeling are the first feelings after the railroad has at least offered the possibility of relief at Zapfendorf station with an additional train stop. The passengers would have to make use of this themselves, but that doesn’t seem to be so easy.
Until now, two trains left Zapfendorf for Bamberg at around seven o’clock. One stopped at 6.52 o’clock, the next one at 7.10 a.m. With both, especially students, but also workers who start at 8 o’clock should come to the cathedral city. But above all the train at 7.10 o’clock, the "school train was recently overcrowded, which is why the railroad has decided to add a regional express train, which departs at 7.02 actually drove through without stopping, since a few days additionally stop lets. The result?
"Now everyone fits in well
"It’s nice to see that something has changed", says the student Cornelia Porzner. It’s a "nice feeling, that a large company like Deutsche Bahn AG had listened to a relatively small number of its customers. The additional train has already brought relief "now all fit well nei". People felt "a bit fooled" by the previous conditions: The loudspeaker announcements to clear the aisles and – inside – to step back from the doors so that they could be closed. Both were simply not possible.
Twice it happened to her that she couldn’t get on the train and had to wait until later to get to school. There one had understanding for the situation, but often up to 30 – mostly smaller – children had to remain outside. "It felt strange", says Cornelia Porzner.
Not miraculously solved Petra Helmreich sees the problem. For the 49-year-old administrative employee, the situation at the 7.10 o’clock train "not much better. The children do not give way to other trains in a big way", she says. People are still waiting to board the train, which has not been extended. If around 100 people then boarded the train in Zapfendorf, it would be a tight squeeze.
"I do not see the great expectations fulfilled", says Petra Helmreich, because the alternative options would be used too little. She herself also prefers to take the train at 7.10 o’clock, which would be for most simply habit. "The one by 7.02 o’clock I have not yet tried. The train at 6.52 o’clock is pleasant.". Nevertheless, the students wanted to ride together often, and that apparently works best with the last possible opportunity.
"Need and misery" alleviated
"With the additional train at 7.02 o’clock it has become clearly better", finds Gunther Schmiedl. A few times the train was delayed by 7.02 o’clock, for himself the situation "was already not so tragic before". However, he has already had to help his daughter into the car "at 7.10-Uhrer". Schmiedl thanks above all MdL Heinrich Rudrof (CSU) for its employment: "The action brought something." Even "hardship and misery of the children of Ebling", who finally also wanted to come along, have become smaller. "In the past, they often didn’t have a chance", says Schmiedl. The additional stop in Zapfendorf should therefore not be reversed.
Only once – for once – is Jutta Eichhorn on the train at 7.10 o’clock, on Monday. That was enough for her. The employee usually leaves later, at 7 a.m., to go to work.35 o’clock, but this time she has the 7.10 o’clock train caught because it was late. Her conclusion: "I’ve been riding trains for 30 years, but I’ve never experienced anything like this." The train was packed, in Bamberg it took quite some time until everyone was out again. Apart from the fact that she was late for work: How is that actually with the security? Not to be imagined, should something happen.
Longer trains?
The Zapfendorfer councillor Christopher Rosenbusch, on the other hand, sees the new regulation as "already an easing". Almost every weekday he uses the train at 7.10 a.m. to Bamberg and wants to continue doing so. His son, on the other hand, now also takes the train to Bamberg at 7.02 o’clock.
What Rosenbusch "does not understand", Is, as he says, running longer trains later in the day. The solution found is therefore not yet ideal, the situation has changed with the introduction of the "Talent II" train type (Franken-Thuringen-Express) to the timetable change on 8. December rather deteriorated. Often there were no seats, meanwhile "one comes again in, the intolerable condition is no longer".
Better than S-Bahn
MdL Heinrich Rudrof, who has made representations to Deutsche Bahn on behalf of Zapfendorf, wants to give the new solution more time. "Some things still have to be worked out", means the landtags delegate. Quite a few used to wait for the first train at 6.53 o’clock, now they have another alternative at 7.02 clock "that should actually give a relaxation", says Rudrof.
In the meantime, the connection of Zapfendorf is even better than at most of the S-Bahn stations, the railroad has been very flexible.
Rudrof thanked the media, which had supported the concerns of the Zapfendorfers with their reporting.