AVG Train Driver Jochen Dietz Receives “Eisenbahner Mit Herz” Award for Outstanding Customer Service

Photos Pro-Rail Alliance/Mike Abmaier Photography.

Jochen Dietz is the name of this year’s winner of the nationwide “Eisenbahner mit Herz” competition. The train driver of the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG) was honored this evening in Berlin by the Pro-Rail Alliance with the renowned prize, which is awarded every year for particularly customer-friendly employees in the rail industry.

“It is a great honor for me to receive this award. The title ‘Eisenbahner mit Herz’ is something very special, especially because the passengers nominate you for this prize,” explains Dietz, who has been a train driver for AVG for around two and a half years.

At the award ceremony in Berlin, the jury recognized the 41-year-old’s commitment to his passengers during a signal box malfunction last autumn. “We experience again and again that not everything runs smoothly on the rails. All the more important and beneficial are railway workers who, despite all the adversities, work hard for the passengers with as much heart, courage and commitment as the everyday heroes we have awarded,” said Dirk Flege, Managing Director of the Pro-Rail Alliance, at the gala in the capital.

Due to a signal box malfunction near Wörth, the S5 line controlled by Jochen Dietz had to stand still for around two and a half hours on October 4, 2022. During this unscheduled stop, Dietz not only looked after all the passengers on the train in an exemplary manner, but also helped an elderly gentleman who was in poor health and had a very human need. “Our S5 trams do not have toilets. What do you do when you are stuck on the free stretch in front of the next train station? I then had the idea of ​​calling the transport service in Wörth. In the old train stations there are still points attendants – and they also have to go to the toilet. So I asked if I could take the passenger to the attendant’s cabin and if he could use the toilet there,” Dietz remembers the situation. The train driver wearing a high-visibility vest then accompanied his passenger on the difficult path along the tracks to the attendant’s hut 200 meters away, so that the passenger could relieve himself there. Then we went back to the tram together. There Dietz took care of the exhausted and thirsty gentleman and gave him his drinking bottle.

“I’ve never experienced such commitment from a driver,” said fellow passenger Alexander Kaiser, describing the situation when he nominated Jochen Dietz for the “Eisenbahner mit Herz” competition with this story. “I myself was thrilled that a driver tried so hard to handle the situation in an understanding and humane way and even offered the passenger his drink because he didn’t know how long such a disruption would last,” Kaiser said in his letter to Allianz per rail.

AVG is also proud that the “Eisenbahner mit Herz” jury chose an employee of their own transport company from among the many entries from all over Germany. “In a difficult situation, Jochen Dietz achieved extraordinary things, took responsibility and above all showed one thing: heart! Such exemplary action is often only possible to a limited extent in regulated railway operations. When looking for a quick and pragmatic solution, he didn’t look at the manual, but instead acted courageously and always stayed cool despite the special circumstances,” Christian Höglmeier congratulated this year’s winner of the “Eisenbahn mit Herz” competition on behalf of the entire AVG management “.

Dietz himself sees the award as representative of the work of his colleagues at AVG and the many other transport companies in the state. “They also do a great job every day with a lot of passion – and try to remain human even in stressful situations. I was just lucky that a passenger nominated me for ‘Eisenbahner mit Herz’ and I was allowed to take part in this competition,” said Dietz modestly after the award ceremony.

The train driver came to AVG two and a half years ago as a career changer – before that he worked as a carpenter for 22 years – and has never regretted his career change. “I just like doing the job. We are still in contact with the customers on the railways and they can look over our shoulder. The children wave at us from outside. That’s really fun. At AVG, we use the two-system railways to run both trams and trains. And both of these things together make the job incredibly interesting.”

Press Release AVG