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Using public transportation during Corona hours often leaves you feeling uncomfortable. Deutsche Bahn is now trying to reassure its passengers, with its own study.
By Jens Eberl, WDR
The train invites him to a telephone press conference, since Corona is at a distance to be safe. A distance that is often not possible on trains. The Deutsche Bahn board of directors should also hear relief in the distance via the phone line. Berthold Huber, a member of the Passenger Transportation Board, begins with the words: “Today we can say that traveling by train is safe.” He wants to prove it with a research project of the Charité Research Organization, which is part of the Berlin University Clinic.
About 1,100 railroad employees were tested for coronaviruses and antibodies between June 29 and July 3. Therefore, it must be determined how many employees are or were ill with Covid-19. Important for research: a distinction was made between train attendants who regularly come into contact with passengers and staff who are rarely near customers. For this, for example, train drivers or factory employees were interviewed.
Railroad employees without customer contact are more frequently infected
Personnel director Martin Seiler presented the surprising result: while only 1.3 percent of train attendants tested positive for antibodies, it was 2.7 percent of employees without customer contact. An acute illness was only diagnosed once. However, employees who were on sick leave at the time of the survey could not be interviewed.
Deutsche Bahn’s chief physician Christian Gravert puts the problem in perspective: “Even among colleagues who are on sick leave, we are not aware of any corona cases. We would have learned about this from the health authorities.” Clients were not interviewed for the research. The railroad justifies this with the fact that the train attendants stayed on the train much longer.
Air conditioning is part of the solution, no problem
There was also an exchange with the Robert Koch Institute, Huber said. “Consequently, traveling by train is not a corona conductor. Family contacts are more important.” See the well positioned railroad. There is a well thought-out hygiene concept and the requirement for the mask is consistently met.
Berthold Huber does not see air conditioning in trains as a problem, but as part of the solution. “They have two properties: they pull the air from top to bottom. So the aerosols are quickly drawn to the ground,” said the board of directors for passenger transport. The air conditioning system also ensures that all the air in a car is changed every seven minutes.
Huber again rejected the request for a reservation requirement on trains. The result would be that thousands of travelers would switch to local transport and generate new transmission risks there. By the end of the year, they want to put 13,000 more seats on the market and thus create more space on the trains.
Cheap price offensive despite Corona
Just a few days ago, the railroad had launched a low-cost offensive for young passengers. Consequently, passengers up to 26 years old can travel on the ICE for just 12.90 euros and with a BahnCard for less than 10 euros.
When asked how useful it would be to refuel trains with cheap deals during Corona schedules, Huber replied that they didn’t want to exclude groups from traveling by train. “But tickets are limited. They are only available on the lower capacity trains.”
More studies planned
The railroad wants to continue its investigation. Together with the German Aerospace Center, they want to investigate how aerosols move on a train.
In October and February there should be more tests of the employees, under the new framework conditions in autumn and winter. Only then will you be able to say with certainty how great the risk of infection really is on the train. The railway itself looks well positioned.
