Train, cars

Landstuhl is not exactly a major stop on the Bundesbahn network. The local trains stop on the milk from from Kaiserslautern to Homburg. The S-Bahns seem to mostly stop. There are regular Regional trains traveling between Kaiserslautern and Saarbrueken which stop – usually. The ICEs and ECs, well this is not a major town and they just travel on by.

Freight trains blast through. Normally composed of engines and up to 20 cars, you will see both mixed trains and the occasional “pure” train moving past at high speed. The loudspeaker on the platform normally gives you a couple of minutes warning about “through trains.”

Today, right before 1500 and just after I had gone out to Platform 2/3 in an effort to find a working ticket machine, the overhead crackled to life with the warning that there was a train coming past Platform 1. Moving at a good clip, the engine was pulling 20 automotive transport wagons. All double deckers, each car had 10-12 total expensive cars all shiny with new paint and chrome. Pristine appearing, those high end vehicles were headed into Germany.

Several minutes later another announcement, only this time about a train headed in the other direction. The 18 cars following the engine were travelling toward Saarbrueken and France. Loaded with new Smarts, Kas and Fiats, the cars were bumper to bumper, maximising the number crammed onto the transport wagons.

I wonder what this says about the two countries relative economies?

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9 Responses to Train, cars

  1. Alison says:

    Hold that train of thought while I wait for more of the newly announced
    electrics to come on the market…

  2. Carmen says:

    Does it also speak about a state of denial about the environment?

  3. Linda says:

    so interesting! thanks for sharing this little slice of life.

  4. April says:

    Relative economies, well then their relatives must be doing well . If you meant the relatives of the ones that made the cars, or possible the ones making future purchases of cars. Then of course it may be the relatives of those that own the dealerships where the cars are going that will profit by the sales of said vehicles. Who knows it may be to their own relatives. which would then be the relative economy of the relatives of the relative that is ..
    oh never mind its all relative anyway no matter which way you look at it there are relatives everywhere. Whether that is relative to anything you wrote, I have no idea, cuz the thought of all those relatives in one place or at the same time, makes me rather ill. If they are anything like a few of our relatives, which really proves we have no choice when it comes to the relatives, be it cars, economy or people.

    If that does not make sense , just consider which relative wrote this okay

  5. George says:

    Let me put this into perspective. First of all, Germany has the highest percentage of its electricity generated by regenerative sources of any country in Europe, 16%-outside of Scandinavia and Switzerland, which have large amounts generated by water power. It will be the first industrialized county to be totally nuclear power free. This will be done by doubling the regenerative sources, mainly wind and photo-voltaic over the next 20 years. While Germans manufacture expensive and in many ways senselessly luxiourious autos, they also have the most advanced combustion engine technology in the world and have been the first to tax autos on the strength of their emissions. Speaking as the owners of a turbo diesel, which has tremendous acceleration and still gets over 30 mpg plus. While there is still a great deal of work to do on electric autos, I have no doubts that in 20 years the Germans will still be building a large percentage of the world`s cars, likely with fuel cells or electrical power. PS. The note also shows that Landstuhl is on the same commuter rail system as Heidelberg, some 120 miles away, which means that electric trains connect the two cities in a 15 minute tact most of the day and well into the night. This is a grid that runs through most of Southwestern Germany, with trains running at speeds well in excess of 70 MPH. It would be tough to find a comparable system anywhere in the US.

  6. Diana says:

    πŸ™‚ I wouldsuspect, that In France they are smarter and see a vehicle as
    what it is πŸ™‚

    A device to get from A to B and nothing more.

    Hearing dad talking about how traffic is handled in Paris, there probably
    would be no automotive movement possible, if they would drive all sihney,
    big, wide cars which need a lot of fuel to get moving πŸ™‚

  7. Ron says:

    US… Few trains moving any direction. Economy is still flat. Foreclosures on the up swing again.

  8. Bob says:

    Moving inventory to make room for the Japanese and Korean imports?

  9. Cat says:

    I have my virtual paws crossed for you – but confess the idea of the German autobahn (and travelling on the β€˜wrong’ side of the road) terrifies me.

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