[fit2rule]

As an Australian who also moved to Germany and Austria, I can say that the trains are very impressive in this part of the world - until you go to Berlin.

Berlin trains will drive you absolutely mad. I was fine with German trains - impressed, even - until I tried to get around Berlin for a few weeks by way of the local train systems. The only thing I can compare it to, is British trains, which are absolutely terrible .. Berlin is like that.

[distances]

> Berlin trains will drive you absolutely mad.

Can you expand a bit, punctuality or what? In Berlin trains are sometimes a bit clunky, sometimes a bit late, but I absolutely love the Berlin public transport system.

[fit2rule]

It might've just been my luck, its not unusual, but there are a few things I've noticed about the time I lived in Germany which might be colouring things.

Every single town will have some road-work happening, somewhere. If there isn't any road-work in your purview, you probably don't know the German town very well, and just haven't seen the current street work yet.

This seems to have been the case with Berlins' rail system while I was there, during a particular summer.

Now, don't get me wrong - I love public transportation, and Europe, Germany in particular, loves it too. Its wonderful, and Berlin by common rail is a delight.

So I often got on the per-the-map "right" train, only to find there was construction work and we had to take the bus around the stations and then .. another train .. to get to destination X. Well, I'm a competent Euro- rail fanatic, should be easy.

Just: nope. Every week I got tripped up by not grok'ing where I was supposed to be to find the bus.

I confess, it might've just been me being dizzied by the delights of the city otherwise, but I did get to walk and catch quite a few Korkmännchen.

Every other German city I've visited (and there are quite a few worth the trip yet), has had absolutely decent, reliable rail. Best is Wuppertal with the Schwebebahn.. but boy, did I ever get lost in Berlin.

[mkohlmyr]

Was this ~2.5 years ago or so? I remember having a few instances of that in the kreuzberg area maybe but I don't remember it affecting basically the rest of the city at all. Like the other person in the thread I really loved the public transportation when I lived there, but yeah you have to build in your own buffers a little bit - I don't mind that so much.

[fit2rule]

Last year, so maybe just a continuation of the maintenance work that has been in progress in Berlin for a few years now .. yeah, generally speaking European public transportation is awesome (especially compared to Australia/California) .. I didn't mind getting lost a few times. Berlin is a nice city for that!

[Accacin]

Yeah British trains can be terrible, depends on the area. Saying that I've never noticed they were much worse than any other country I've been too, except maybe Japan.