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meFriday afternoon in September: the ICE from Berlin to Munich is almost full, a young woman reluctantly removes her bag from the seat next to it when the passenger who has reserved the seat arrives. “With Corona, is it allowed to sit next to each other?” He asks. It is. Because people are still afraid, the number of passengers has fallen again since October.
Many passengers feel the same way as women on the trip to Munich: they just don’t feel safe on the train at the moment. Unlike almost all other areas of life, there is no mandatory minimum distance on trains and airplanes. In restaurants, cafes, cinemas and theaters, care is taken to ensure that there are only enough people in the rooms and that there is enough space for everyone, regardless of the question of whether they can still be operated economically. Different rules apply in traffic: all seats can be taken. The window cannot be opened either, so it remains only to protect the health of the mask and the hope that the passenger in the seat next to it is healthy.
But even if the neighbor does not have a Corona, the question remains how the aerosols from the other passengers spread inside the car. Deutsche Bahn emphasizes that no infection has yet been proven on the trains. But even the Robert Koch Institute points out in its statistics on places of infection that it is simply not possible to track who was sitting with whom in the same open-plan compartment because the train does not record the names and addresses of passengers.
For months, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has been investigating the risk of infection on trains and planes. But even though the first results were promised within a few weeks in May, they have yet to be published. The reason: Deutsche Bahn does not want to publish the study until the final result is available. So far this has not been the case, according to the argument.
Faster air exchange than in buildings
For a long time, the state-owned company did not even want to answer the question of what filters are used in air conditioning systems. Aircraft manufacturers advertise that they use so-called Hepa filters, which can also filter viruses from the air. In ICEs, this is reportedly not the case. “The air conditioning systems in the trains provide ventilation during the journey,” said a DB spokesman. “In an ICE, there is a complete air exchange every seven minutes. In addition, the trains have an active air volume control, which regulates the supply of fresh air based on the occupation of the trains. “
Therefore, the air exchange rate is significantly higher than in buildings. “Adequate air circulation is also guaranteed on DB Regio trains,” the spokesperson said. “On the one hand, this is due to the numerous stops in regional and S-Bahn traffic and the associated frequent door opening. On the other hand, fresh air is also added to the air conditioning systems of regional trains. “
All of this obviously contributes little to perceived safety on trains, which is reflected in the decrease in passenger numbers. This is a costly development for the railways and therefore also for the German taxpayer. Back in May, the logistics company calculated how high the crown damage could be for the state-owned company. The result: even in the so-called basic scenario, a damage of eleven billion euros was assumed by 2024. In the most negative scenario, in which the recovery is slower, they even reached 13,500 million euros. Now the numbers are even falling again.
The question therefore arises as to what could be done in the short term to increase passenger confidence. “It is important that train passengers feel safe on trains even during the pandemic,” says Jürgen Wilder, a board member of provider Knorr-Bremse, WELT. “Safety on trains can be improved relatively easily with technical updates and modernizations.”
For example, it is possible to regulate the supply of fresh air based on the number of infections. “In regions where there are currently a lot of Covid-19 boxes, the air inside the car could be exchanged more frequently,” says Wilder. “Our electronic air conditioning control allows these adjustments to be made on short notice.” Air conditioning systems have long been available in which the air is treated with ultraviolet light, for example, and viruses are rendered harmless. “Systems like this can also be retrofitted relatively easily and will become standard equipment for track air conditioning systems in the future,” says Wilder, for whom, of course, this would be a good deal.
Largest train fleet for Christmas
However, there is no modernization program for the railways, as the federal government has started for ventilation systems in public buildings. It therefore remains to be seen how the number of infections will evolve and, therefore, also the number of passengers.
Since a few days, you can also book tickets for trips around the Christmas holidays. Deutsche Bahn does not want to answer how sales are going. “We want to guarantee a safe trip at the best possible distance in any case,” promises the DB spokesperson. “This year we will have an even larger fleet of trains for the travel time before the Christmas holidays.”
One is planning “with more connections, closer train sequences and more new trains with 13,000 additional seats each day.” However, despite the high number of infections, the normal fare conditions apply differently than in the spring: Saver tickets can only be canceled for a fee, Super Saver tickets cannot be canceled at all. If you book now, you are not only taking a health risk, but also a financial one.
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We will be happy to take them home periodically.
Source: Welt am Sonntag
