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According to a study by Charité, train drivers are not exposed to an increased risk of corona. The corresponding antibodies were detected less frequently in train attendants in long-distance traffic than in employees without customer contact, the company announced Wednesday. “We still have to be careful, but there is no need to worry about train travel,” concluded board member Berthold Huber.
The study on this is not yet complete. So far, tests are available on 1,072 employees from the end of June and the beginning of July. Among them were 600 train assistants for IC and ICE, as well as roughly the same number of machinists and workshop employees. For all those examined, a factory employee only recorded one case of corona. 1.3 percent of the train attendants had antibodies in their blood, so they had already been infected with the virus. In the comparison group without customer contact, the proportion was twice as high.
Air conditioning systems also work against the risk of infection.
“I can say with complete conviction that traveling by train is safe,” said Berthold Huber, a member of the passenger transport board. The study will continue in the fall and also in the winter. In addition to the mask requirement on trains, according to Huber, air conditioning also counteracts the risk of infection. These are in no way a danger. The air conditioning system replaces the air in the cars every seven minutes.
At the time, according to Deutsche Bahn, long-distance trains had a load factor of 30 percent, half that of before the crown crisis. More tests are planned on employees in October and February, in the cold and flu season.
The research partner is Charité Research Organization GmbH. The branch of the Berlin University Hospital carries out research under contract. She did not participate in Wednesday’s presentation and so far has not commented on the study. The goal is scientifically sound knowledge about the infection process, the railroad said.
Overall, long-distance train utilization is slowly increasing and is currently around 40 percent on average, Huber said. A year ago it was almost 60 percent.
Pro-Rail Alliance: Accident risk favors railways too
In this context, the Pro-Rail Alliance asked that traffic safety not be reduced to Corona alone. “Anyone who opts for the train over the automobile as a means of transportation significantly reduces their risk of accidents,” said Dirk Flege, managing director of Allianz pro Schiene. According to a safety comparison conducted by Allianz pro Schiene, almost 47 times more people died per kilometer in Germany in the ten-year period from 2009 to 2018 in cars than in trains.
